The Story Must Go On
by avp78282
Summary: Sequel to You Belong to Me. The love story of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele goes on but it wont always be perfect.
1. Chapter 1

**As promised, this will be the sequel to You Belong to Me. I will no longer be writing that story.**

 **This story will continue my story from where it left off. I hope that you will enjoy reading it just as you did with the first one.**

 **The story will begin 5 months after Christian had proposed to Ana. It is currently a new year and you will soon find out when they decided to have their wedding and where it will be.**

 **CPOV**

It has been 5 months since I had proposed to Ana.

As a lay here in our bed, I reflect on that moment with a smile on my face. Never would I have imagined being engaged let alone being in a long term relationship with someone. It takes one special person to change everything. Everything worked out for the best for the both of us. When I met Ana, she was in a relationship with my brother. _It is til this day that I wonder how can a man like my brother have a girlfriend like Ana._

I was picking up my then girlfriend Kate from her apartment. Kate did tell me that she had a roommate, but at that time I didn't pay attention to that statement. It wasn't until Ana opened the door for me that I felt my world flip upside down. From that moment on, I knew that nothing else really mattered. That I will do everything in my power to be with Ana. Everything worked for our advantage. Kate is happily engaged with Elliot and 5 months ago, Ana said yes to me!

I hear the bathroom door open and Ana walks out in nothing but a towel covering her beautiful porcelain skin. She walks over to one of her drawers and slightly bends down to retrieve whatever article of clothing that she wishes.

I watch her as she stands there for a few seconds, admiring the beautiful woman before me. Ana turns to walk back to the bathroom, catching me stare before doing so.

She smiles at me, her beautiful blue eyes twinkling with happiness and love.

"Mr. Grey, its not nice to stare." Ana tells me. _My cock just woke up at the sound of Mr. Grey. Ana speaking formally to me is quite a turn on._

I get out of bed and walk toward her. Once there I wrap my arms around her.

"Mrs. Soon-to –be- Grey, when you speak formally to me, it is a definite turn on." I whisper in her ear. I know she feels my arousal pressing into her.

"Christian, I need you." She says, almost begging me.

I don't have to think twice. I pick her up and gently place her on the bed. I unwrap the towel that is covering her delectable body. I kiss her plump lips and continue my way down. I take my time, knowing that it is probably driving her crazy. I stop at her breasts, giving each of them my undivided attention by sucking and biting on them. Ana moans, arching her back so I can get more of the breast in my mouth.

I continue my journey down her body, peppering it with kisses.

I reach my point of interest and I can smell her sweet arousal, almost beckoning me to come hither.

I quickly pull down my boxers, almost teasingly slow, knowing that Ana is probably dripping wet by now.

"Christian, enough with the teasing." Ana says, reading my mind.

"Your wish is my command."I tell her. And at that thought, I slide into her with all deliberate speed.

"Damn baby, you are so tight and wet for me." I say. I love the fact that Ana is always ready for me.

"Mmm Christian."She moans out. I continue to slide in and out of her, coating my cock with her juices.

It's not before long that I feel her walls tighten around me and I know it is time for release.

"Lets cum together." I say, almost out of breath.

I pull out of her and collapse right next to her.

We are both out of breathe.

Silence envelops us as we catch our breath.

I put my hand on Ana's and turn to look at her. She does the same.

" You are amazing." I tell her.

" Not as amazing as you." She says Ana pulls my head closer to hers and kisses me.

"Now, I have to go back into the shower again."She says.

"That's not my fault." I tell her.

"Is too!" She exclaims like a little child.

"I didn't hear you complaining." I defend myself.

Ana simply laughs.

"How about I join you?" I ask her.

"No thank you, Christian. You stay here." She says. Ana is completely aware of the fact that if I went to the shower with her, there would be more sex involved and she is probably sore from the night before and what just happened.

"As you wish." I say.

Ana retrieves her towel from the floor and tosses it into the hamper. She gets a new one and closes the door to the bathroom to take another shower.

I lay back on the bed, in the same position I was before Ana came out of the shower the first time.

I still have the same smile on my face and I lay there thinking what a lucky guy I am to have a woman like my fiancé.

 **Ana's POV**

After the my second shower of the morning, I go downstairs for breakfast. It is finally Saturday which means I can spend some time with Christian.

I am sore from our activities, but I am not complaining. I wasn't expecting the morning sex that we had this morning, but at the same time, I shouldn't have expected anything anyway. I mean, I live with Christian Grey. Life itself is unexpected with him.

I make my way to the kitchen where I smell pancakes. My fiancé is already sitting in a chair eating his pancakes with a side of bacon.

"Good morning, Ana." Gail, the housekeeper says.

"Morning." I answer back to her. Me and Gail have a great relationship. We sometimes cook together and even share a glass of wine when Christian has late night meetings at GEH. She is a wonderful woman who treats everyone like they are part of the family, which it is. I know that she is Christian's staff member and that I should keep things professional when I am with her, but I know that Christian wouldn't be mad if he knew that.

She places a plate of pancakes in front of me with a side of bacon. She is well aware that I normally have some yogurt and granola for breakfast, but I am sure that Christian told her to make me whatever he is having, so I guess I will be eating this for today's breakfast.

I finish eating my food, which like always is delicious. Christian is talking to Taylor about something work related, so I make my way to the living room. Soon my phone rings. The caller ID shows that its Mia.

"Hey Mia." I answer the phone.

"Ana, sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk to you." She says. Mia sounds slightly off. _Uh oh, whats going on?!_

"Of course." I say. I walk upstairs to my bedroom, so I can have a private conversation with her.

Once I make it there, I close the door behind me.

"Whats wrong, Mia?" I ask her.

"It's Ethan. He didn't come home last night" She tells me.

"Was he working?" I tell her. _That doesn't sound like Ethan._

"He was working yesterday, but he texted me and said that he was meeting up with a few of his buddies and that he will be back around 10. But he didn't." She explained to me, her voice is trembling.

"I am sure everything is okay. Maybe if we tell Christian..he will be able to track down his phone." I tell her.

"I want to do that, but at the same time I don't. We are talking about Christian here; he will probably jump to conclusions. " She says.

"That is true, but at the same time, you will know where Ethan is and that will help you not worry as much as you are now." I explain to her.

"Yeah you are right. I just hope he is okay. I hope that it has nothing to do with me. " Mia says.

"I am sure it doesn't. You're his girlfriend. I doubt that he would do something to hurt you." I tell her.

"That's what I am hoping for." She says. "Will you tell Christian for me?"

"I will as soon as I stop talking to you." I say. "Do me a favor and calm down, everything will be okay."

"Okay, Ana. Thank you." She says.

 _Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_

I make my way downstairs and before I know it I bump into Christian.

"Where were you?" He asks me. "Whats wrong?" He searches my eyes for clues.

"Mia just called and she told me that Ethan didn't come home last night." I tell her.

Christian sits down on the couch and runs his hand through his hair.

"That doesn't sound good." He says. "I will get Welch to track his phone down right now."

Christian gets on the phone and within seconds is talking to Welch.

"Please do this as soon as you can. My sister is really worried right now and frankly I don't like the sound of this myself." Christian tells him.

The call is soon over and Christian makes his way to me.

"Welch says he will do it." He says.

"I just hope that everything is okay." I tell him, running my hand down my arm.

"Me too. " Christian says.

…

A few minutes have gone by and Christian's phone rings. He shows me the caller ID. Its Welch.

Christian talks to Welch for a few minutes.

The call is relatively short, but it doesn't sound like its good news.

"We need to go now. We are going to stop by Mia's place and then we have to go." He says.

"Where are we going to go?" I ask him.

"Ana, we don't have time for questions." He tells me.

And with that note, I don't ask him anymore. Christian tells Taylor that we are about to head out. Within minutes, we are in our private elevator.

I am secretly hoping that everything will be okay, but something tells me that its not.

 **Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**CPOV**

My heart is beating out of my chest. Many possibilities of what happened to Ethan are popping up in my head and none of them sound good to me. _What if something happened to him? Is somebody out to get me and everyone in my family? What if Ethan is cheating on Mia? If that comes out to be true, I will personally deal with that fucker._

Mia is sitting on Ana's right in the suv. Her head is on Ana's shoulder and from time to time, Ana runs her hand through Mia's hair. I feel bad that Mia has to go through all of this, but who knows maybe we are all worried for nothing. _That is very unlikely, but there is a slight possibility that it could be true._

I look out the window and see a bunch of old apartments. The suv stops near a two story brick apartment building. _This is it._

I open the door and wait for Ana and Mia to get out of the car. Although I was reluctant to take Mia at first, I decided that it would be best for her. That way it would somewhat calm her down.

My other last minute decision was Sawyer. Not knowing what the situation is, I decided that grabbing Ana's CPO could come in handy. Taylor would stay back at the car and Sawyer will come with us.

We entered the apartment building and took the elevator to the second floor. The apartment that we were looking for was located there.

Once there it wasn't a far walk to our destination.

We walk until I stop at the apartment door. I knocked on the door as soon as everyone else caught up to me.

No one answered at first,so I knocked again. Soon a woman opens the door in a towel. She had dark blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"Can I help you?" She asks. I can hear Mia gasp at the sight of the woman. I can only wonder what is going through my sister's head right now.

"Yes, I am looking for an Ethan Kavanaugh. " I answer her back.

"Im sorry,but he doesn't live here. Perhaps you should check another apartment." She says, closing the door. Sawyer grabs the door before it closes. The blonde woman turns around looking shocked.

"Listen Miss, I know you are lying. Why don't you make it easy for yourself and tell us that Ethan is with you right now." I demand.

She doesn't answer me. Then I hear a familiar voice calling her from somewhere in the apartment.

"Baby, who is that?"

"Come here." She says.

A few seconds goes by and soon the man of the hour comes to the door. Ethan was wearing nothing but some boxer shorts.

"What is it, babe?" He asks. He then looks up at the door and turns a crimson read color.

"How dare you, Ethan!" Mia screams. "You've been cheating on me?!" My sister is enraged right now and frankly I am too, but I am somehow managing to keep myself from lunging and giving that guy a piece of my mind.

"Mia, I can explain." He says as he walks out the door to speak to Mia.

"I don't need an explanation, Ethan. I just don't understand how you can do this to me. Everything was going so well, I moved in with you not too long ago and now I find you cheating on me. I…don't know what to say." She says. Her voice begins to tremble and I can hear her begin to cry. I turn around to see Ana giving her a hug, telling her that everything will be okay.

Ethan just stands there.

"Ethan, I don't want you near my sister. I thought differently of you and now that you do this to my sister, I cannot fathom trusting you anymore. I will have to talk to Elliot about this. Maybe this time tomorrow you won't have a job." I tell him, my voice slightly raised.

"You can't just take his job away from him. This has nothing to do with it." The blonde defends Ethan.

"Miss, stay out of this." I tell her.

"But she's right. Its not fair." Ethan retorts.

"Well I am glad that you know how that feels like because now you know how my sister feels like. What he did isn't fair to her." I say.

"Im going to move all my stuff out of the apartment today, Ethan." Mia says.

"Can we just talk about this?" Ethan asks Mia.

"We have nothing to discuss, Ethan. Its over." She says.

At this point, we all leave back to the SUV. I can't say that I am not slightly surprised by Ethan's actions. I remember when I first met the fucker. He was actually trying to get into Ana's pants at the time, but luckily it didn't happen. I knew he was trouble even when I saw him with my sister, but for her sake I took a couple steps back. I wanted Mia to be happy. I knew that if I was going to keep telling her that he isn't the person she sees, she won't believe me. I thought things are going well because he asked her to move in with her and he even told us that when he had lunch with me and Elliot. He even promised then that he wouldn't hurt her. At the time I believed him, but now I am 100% sure that he cannot be trusted.

It is still a mystery as to why he cheated on Mia. I know I may sound biased but Mia is a sweetheart and a very pretty woman. Any guy would be lucky to have her. Ethan just wanted to fuck some random bimbo on the side, thinking that Mia will never find out and she never would have if he didn't come home last night.

The drive back to Mia's apartment was silent if you don't count her sobs every now and then.

I genuinely feel bad for my sister.

Upon dropping her off, I promised her to get her some boxes so she can pack her stuff. That way she can remove her stuff out of Ethan's apartment and she can move back home without seeing Ethan.

"I feel bad for her." said Ana. "I didn't see this coming at all." She puts her head on my shoulder. I stroke her hair, attempting to comfort her.

"I did. I did for a while when I met him for the first time and he was trying to get you in bed with him. Luckily I was your boyfriend then and that stopped him from doing that. " I tell her. "It took all the strength that I had in me not to pounce on that fucker. "

"Im glad that you didn't although he did deserve it." Ana says.

"I am pretty sure that Elliot will go crazy when he finds out what Ethan did. " I say to her.

"I know. There is no way he will let Ethan work for him again." Ana says.

"That's true."

We pull into the parking lot of Escala. I send Taylor to the nearest Box City store to grab some boxes for Mia.

I call up Elliot and tell him what has happened. Elliot sounded very pissed off and said that he will most likely fire Ethan. I also called my mom and told her that Mia will move back with her for the time being. My mom was surprised that this had happened _much like the rest of us,_ but agreed that it was in Mia's best interest.

Taylor needed to run some errands for Gail, so I let Sawyer deliver the boxes to Mia.

Mia always had a crush on Sawyer and I know that Sawyer will never do what Ethan had done to her. I know that now is not the time to play matchmaker, but I know that when Sawyer saw Ethan at the blonde bimbo's apartment, he was just as willing to rip that fucker into pieces as I was. I would be happy if Sawyer was her boyfriend because I know that I could at least trust that he won't go around fucking other women behind her back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Many of you are shocked that Ethan would cheat on Mia. And yeah it is pretty shocking to think that everything was going well for the both of them and then this happens, but it did. This won't be a cheat story. Frankly, I don't like cheat stories mostly because they remind me of what I have been through (yes, I have been cheated on a few times.). I hope that no one has to go through something that Mia went through when she found out that Ethan was cheating on her. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger ( I love that Kelly Clarkson song!).**

 **Now back to the story.**

 **Mia's POV**

My world has been turned upside down. As I begin to arrange my clothes on the bed, I remember Ethan joining that blonde chick at the door. A shiver goes down my spine and tears being to fall down my cheeks.

What exactly have I done to deserve this? I feel like all of this is my fault. Im still trying to figure out what was wrong with our relationship. _Was there not enough sex? Was I way too bubbly?_ I can't seem to find the answer to what went wrong. The best thing to do right now is to move on. Christian and Ethan were right all along; Ethan is no good. I failed to listen to them as I have with every other guy they have said no to. I always shrugged it off as a mere coincidence and to the fact that they are very overprotective of me.

Ethan has left me a lot of texts and voicemails on my phone, but I refuse to listen to them. He should have thought about the consequences when he was fucking that chick. There is no way in hell that I will stay with him after what he did. I actually saw a future with Ethan and now that this happened, I am left with a pit in my stomach and an overwhelming amount of regret and sadness.

I am glad that I have the support of my family. I am very lucky to have them with me at a time like this.

I hear a knock on the door.

"Ethan, I don't want to see or hear from you, so go away."I say loud enough so Ethan can hear me.

"Miss Grey, its Sawyer." is the reply I get.

Christian promised to send Taylor down to bring some boxes for me to pack my stuff. Im guessing Taylor must have been busy and that's why he sent Sawyer. It is no secret that I have a crush on Sawyer. I mean who wouldn't? He is tall and has blue eyes with blonde hair; not to mention that he served in the army before coming to work for Christian.

I look in the mirror that is right by the door. Ever since I came back home after finding out that my now ex-boyfriend has cheated on me, I opted for my favorite pair of pjs and a white tank top. _Sawyer will not see me at my best today, but I honestly don't care. There is no way I have a chance with Sawyer. I have the worst luck when it comes to dating._

I open the door. Standing in front of me is Sawyer holding a bunch of cardboard boxes.

"Thank you so much, Sawyer." I say. I take them out of his hands. I thought that he is going to leave, but when I look back to the door, I see him.

"Mr. Grey asked me to help you with the moving." He said.

 _Christian did not mention any of that to me, but I am glad that I have some help. There is no way I can carry all these cardboard boxes down to my car without some help._

"Well that's really nice of my brother." I say with a smile. As much as it pains me, I manage to put a smile on my face, even though it is really hard for me to be happy.

"Please come in." I tell Sawyer.

He walks in and closes the door behind him.

"Can I offer you anything to drink?" I ask him. _Poor guy has to watch me and my miserable self put away my clothes into boxes, and plus I look like crap._

"No thank you, Ms. Grey." He says.

"Sawyer, you know you can call me Mia when Christian is not around." I tell him.

He nods in agreement and I lead him to the bedroom to help me.

He begins to assemble the cardboard boxes and as soon as the first one is done, I start to put my clothes in.

After a while, I am done with clothes and Sawyer has graciously put some of the cardboard boxes in the Suv that will be taken back to my parents house. I didn't think I would be going back home. But I guess I have done something wrong in my previous relationship that now I have to move back in with them. I feel tears swell in my eyes and I try to conceal them from falling down my cheeks. I don't want Sawyer to see my cry. He will probably think I am being overdramatic.

Unfortunately, I am a little bad when it comes to hiding something.

" …I mean Mia, are you alright?" Sawyer asks me.

"Not really, but its okay. I don't want you to think that I am needy or something." I tell him. _The guy already thinks I am a spoiled brat._

"You're not needy. Its healthy to let out your emotions. " He tells me.

The tears start to come down a little more.

"But why,Sawyer? Why did he do this to me? I've loved him. I put everything into that relationship and the next thing I know he is off sleeping with another woman. " I say to him through all the tears.

"Permission to speak freely?" He asks me.

I simply nod and dry my face with a nearby towel.

"You did nothing wrong. He was just a jerk, but he will soon realize that, if he hasn't already." Sawyer says. He gives me a tissue from the desk.

"I feel like a total failure. This always happens to me, I end up falling head over heels for someone and then I get this "surprise" and its over. I feel like its all my fault. Either that or all men are jerks." I say. I take out a picture of me and Ethan that was on the night stand. I rip it into small pieces and throw it into the trash.

"You're saying that now because you are hurt, but in reality not all men are jerks. I personally wasn't a big fan of Ethan. I can see why your two brothers didn't like him. I don't think its your fault. You are a beautiful woman. Any man would be lucky to have you." Sawyer tells me.

 _Did he just call me beautiful?_ I feel myself blushing and I smile shyly at him.

"Do you really think Im beautiful?" I ask him.

"Yes, I do, but I don't want to think that I am telling you this because of pity. I really mean it. I have been very envious of Ethan since you have started dating him. And now that he showed his true colors, I am happy to say that I finally have a chance with you. When you are completely over him, tell me that you would go have coffee with me sometime." Sawyer says.

 _He also had feelings for me and he was jealous of Ethan?! Wow,t hats certainly something I wasn't expecting._

"I think that's a lovely idea. " I tell him. My tears are gone now and I can finally look at the sunshine that is pouring into the room with a slight sense of optimism. Like everyone around me has always said to me, things happen for a reason. This is a sign that I have to stop dwelling in the past and move on with my life.

Sawyer gives me a shy smile as he takes the last boxes down to the Suv.

I change into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt and slip into some flipflops that I set aside. I join Sawyer downstairs and we head to my parents' house.

Once again, Sawyer helped me with the cardboard boxes and was kind enough to throw them away for me after I finished putting away my stuff back to my room.

"Promise me you will give me a chance. Im not asking you to go out with me now, but when you are ready." He tells me, his blue eyes glimmering with delight.

"Of course." I tell him. Sawyer gives me a kiss on the forehead before leaving my room. "Thanks again for your help."

"You're very welcome, Mia." He says.

I can feel relief pour into my system and I no longer feel sad. Yes, I am still mad at Ethan for what he did, but I am hopeful for my future. I won't keep Sawyer waiting. Soon, I will go out on a coffee date with him. _Is tomorrow a little too soon?!_

 **Sawyer's POV**

As I leave the Grey's manor, I feel happy. Like super happy.

First of all, Mia is no longer with that fucker Ethan. Everytime I saw her kissing him or holding his hand, my blood would boil. Yes, I admit it I was jealous, but I didn't want to intervene. Everyone was liking the guy and I decided to do so as well, but like Mr. Grey, I didn't trust him. There was just something about this guy that was very strange and now we all know what that its.

And secondly, Mia agreed to give me a chance. I didn't want to come off as some desperate guy when I asked her, but I couldn't hang on to these feelings any longer. Mia is a great woman and yes, she could be very bubbly sometimes, yet I see no harm in that. She is a very beautiful person. I cannot wait for our little coffee date.

I wonder if Mr. Grey will object to me dating his little sister. He might at first, but I know that he would rather have me with her than Ethan. I would never break Mia's heart. She is a treasure that needs to be cherished.

I drive into the parking lot of Escala and make it upstairs to Mr. Grey's penthouse. I stop by the kitchen to get some water and I run in to Taylor.

"Did you deliver the boxes to Mia?" He asks.

"Yes." I reply. I open the bottle and take a long drink.

"I still cannot believe that guy Ethan. How can he do that to Mia?!" Taylor says.

" I never liked that guy in the first place. Mia doesn't deserve him though." I tell Taylor.

Taylor searches my eyes for a minute as if he knows what I have in mind.

"Whatever is you are planning in that head of yours needs to be approved Mr. Grey, although I don't see why he would object. You're a nice young man and I don't think you would hurt Mia's feelings." Taylor says to me with a smile.

"I would never cheat on Mia." I tell him.

I am about to leave the kitchen when I find Mr. Grey standing there. By the his facial expression I cannot figure out whether he is pissed off or tired or both.

"Mr. Grey" I acknowledge his presence.

"Sawyer, I will see you in my study in 5 minutes." Mr. Grey says.

"Yes, sir." I say.

I decide to waste no time and head to his study. As I was walking there, I have to admit that I felt slightly nervous. Although I was confident that he would okay with the fact that I may potentially date his sister, now I don't feel so sure.

 _I guess there is only one way to find out…_


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for your reviews! I enjoy reading them. They make me a better writer.**

 **I apologize for the some of the errors that were in the last chapter. I will review the chapter before posting in next time to prevent such errors from happening again.**

 **Also, I would like to address a guest review that I received yesterday. The reviewer didn't like the fact that everybody went to find Ethan and I completely understand why a reader would not like that. However, the main reason that Christian took Ana and Mia was: 1) Ana could console Mia should anything happen. She can be her shoulder to cry on (as she was in the second chapter) 2) Christian took Mia so she can stop worrying about where Ethan was. I hope that clears things up for everyone who was slightly confused like that reviewer.**

 **Now for the story….**

 **Christian's POV**

I hear the elevator door open. It must be Sawyer coming back from Mia's. I slowly make my way downstairs and head toward the kitchen. I walk to the kitchen slowly while listening to the conversation that Sawyer is having with Taylor.

 _"Whatever is you are planning in that head of yours needs to be approved Mr. Grey, although I don't see why he would object. You're a nice young man and I don't think you would hurt Mia's feelings." Taylor says to Sawyer with a smile._

 _"I would never cheat on Mia." Sawyer replies to Taylor._

Sawyer beings to leave the kitchen and is shocked to see that I am standing not far from the doorway.

He acknowledges my presence. _I need to talk to him about Mia._

 _"Sawyer, I will see you in my study in 5 minutes." I tell him._

Sawyer says, "Yes, sir." and heads over to my study.

….

With a glass of rum in my hand, I walk on over to my study. I open the door to find Sawyer. I like the fact that he is here early. Sawyer is one of my top security people and I trust him with all my heart just as I trust Taylor.

I put my drink down on my desk and walk around to sit my chair.

"How was Mia when you came to see her with the boxes?" I ask him.

Sawyer looks nervous. He thinks I am going to tell him that it is completely unprofessional to date one of my family members especially when he is working for me. That is a fact, but I am willing to make an exception this one time, for my sister's sake.

Sawyer clears his throat before he starts speaking.

"She didn't look too good, sir. Her eyes were puffy and she looked completely disheveled when she answered the door. Seems to me like she was crying her eyes out after what happened." He says.

I take a sip of my drink.

"Well, her reaction is completely natural. I wouldn't expect her to be the bubbly person that she is after what she saw. Mia had very strong feelings for Ethan and what he did to her has taken a toll on her. I had to keep myself from lunging at him when I saw him at that apartment and giving him a piece of my mind." I tell him. I know for certain that Sawyer wanted to beat his ass just as much as I did.

" He took everyone by surprise. Although I must admit, sir, I was not surprised. I never really liked the guy to begin with." Sawyer says to me.

 _I guess me and Elliot weren't the only ones that didn't like Ethan._

"The moment I saw him, I knew he was trouble. He just acted like he is such a good guy when in reality he isn't. " I say. "So, is there anything you want to tell me?"

Sawyer doesn't hesitate for a second.

"I actually do, Mr. Grey. While I was at Mia's old apartment. I admit to her that I like her and that I want to go on a date with her, once she feels ready to do so. And she agreed wholeheartedly. But before we actually go on a date, I want to make sure that you are okay with that." Sawyer explains.

 _I knew that this day will come eventually. I trust this guy to keep Ana safe and he does a great job at doing so. I have no doubt in my mind that he will make Mia happy._

"Luke, it wouldn't be appropriate that you date one of my family members, but I am willing to make an exception. Ever since I hired you and introduced you to Mia, I knew that she had a crush on would deny it to me, but I know my sister and I can see it in her eyes that everytime you were around she was more bubbly than usual and she made many attempts to get you to notice her and you did, but you weren't able to make a move because that fucker Ethan swooped in and "charmed" her. " I say to Sawyer.

I can see that Sawyer has lightened up a little. He is more relaxed now.

" You have my approval, but you might have to wait a little bit. Mia is still not over Ethan. It will take some time for her to be officially over him. I ask you to wait. It might not be a short wait, but in the end you two will be happy." I tell him.

"That's exactly what I told Mia. I will wait until she is ready to go on a date with me. I don't want to rush her. She needs time and I am willing to wait as long as it takes. " He says to me.

 _What a nice guy! Why can't the world have more men like Sawyer?_

"I am glad that we are both on the same page. I am 100% certain that you will treat her like a queen and you won't end up sleeping with other women on the side." I say to him, taking another sip of rum.

"I have always been a one woman man, sir. You have my word. I will never cheat on your sister." He says.

"That's good to hear. Well Sawyer, you have my approval. "I tell him. We shake hands and Sawyer leaves my study.

Its nice to see that everything is working itself out. I must say though, I am very happy for Mia and Sawyer. They are a perfect match.

I leave my study and go up stairs to see what my lovely fiancé Ana is up to.

 **Ana's POV**

"Well, my brother is one fucked up person." Kate says to me. I am FaceTiming her in my bedroom.

"You got that right. I did not expect that from him. That isn't the Ethan that I have known since I was little." I say.

"Hey, I didn't know my brother was capable of doing that. I always thought he would be too scared to cheat on someone because of the fear of getting caught, but the way that you described it, he wasn't scared at all. He just walked over to the door wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, as if he didn't give a fuck." Kate said to me. Kate was enraged since the moment she heard about what her brother did.

"I honestly feel bad for Mia. She is probably a mess right now." I tell her. _Poor thing is probably crying her eyes right now as we speak._

" I do too. I feel like its kind of my fault too. I will probably be looked at differently by the entire Grey family. Everyone will think that Im a cheater too when that's not true and you know that Steele. " She says.

"Of course not. You wouldn't cheat on Elliot! You love the guy." I say. _One thing I know about Kate and that is she would never cheat on anyone, mostly because she had been cheated on before and she knows how much it hurts._

"I am sure that Mia can find someone better than him. She is a pretty girl. It won't be long before some hunk swoops her up." Kate says, bringing some humor to the conversation. "Omg! Imagine your life if you were with my brother. If he did that to Mia, that means that he most likely would have done the same to you."

"Well since it never happened, I don't want to jump into conclusions, but Im not saying that he wouldn't." I say to her. _Luckily, I am with a man that will not do that to me._

Just then I hear a knock on the door.

"Its open." I say.

In walks in Christian. He looks puzzled.

"Hey, im talking to Kate right now." I tell him.

"Kate, Christian is here." I say to her. I turn the phone to Christian.

"Hey Christian." She says.

"Hi Kate." Christian answers back.

"I don't know if you heard, but Elliot is really pissed at Ethan,so when Ethan comes back to work on Monday, he will realize that he is out of a job." Kate says.

"That's good. Ethan cannot be trusted with anything." Christian says.

"I think that is a little harsh, but at the same time I do agree that he cannot be trusted. He chose to mess with the wrong family." I say. I look up at Christian who nods in agreement.

"It could be harsh, Steele, but Ethan needs to understand that what he did is wrong and there is no way that Elliot or any other Grey will trust him ever again." Kate says.

"Yeah you are right." I say.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Ana, but I got to go, Elliot is home!" She says excitedly and on that note she ends the conversation.

Christian walks over and sits on the bed next to me. He puts his arm around me and kisses my cheek. I subsequently put my arm around him too.

"Lets go out to dinner. I will tell Gail that she can take the night off." Christian says.

"As good as that sounds, how about we stay in and watch a movie. Im tired and I just want to relax. And in addition to that I don't feel like going out tonight. Im not in the mood." I tell him. Today's events have left me tired and pissed off. I just want to sleep and forget that this all happened.

"Okay, I will take a rain check on that." Christian says. "What do you want to eat?"

"Anything that you want is fine with me." I tell him. Christian leaves the room on that note.

I lay down on the bed. A while ago, I was cheated on. I can remember how hurt I felt at that very moment. I felt like it was all my fault, but i couldn't think of what I did wrong. I put everything into it and ended up being hurt in the end.

I am glad to say that I have someone in my life that would never do that to me. And I am positive that Mia will find someone that will only make her happy and will do everything in his power to keep that smile on her face.

 **Next chapter you will find out when Ana is having her wedding.**


	5. Chapter 5: Girls Day

**Thanks for the reviews!**

 **Ana's POV (the next day)**

I woke up the next morning feeling relieved. Gone were the feelings of anger that I felt yesterday.

Despite the fact that yesterday wasn't exactly a good day, there were some happy moments. Christian and I decided that we will have our wedding next spring and it will be at his parents' house. Although I was a little weary at that idea, Christian reassured me that it will be no hassle on his mother, especially when it has to do with her son's wedding.

"She would be ecstatic when she hears the news. " Christian told me over dinner.

We decided that we will reveal this to the rest of the family during our Sunday family barbeque. In the meantime, we will try our best not to accidentally blurt out the news to everyone around us. _Shouldn't be that hard…_

Kate called me this morning with the idea of a girl's day with Mia. That should lift her spirits up! It should be a fun day and a true test to see whether or not I can keep a secret from the two women that I am very close to.

Christian liked the idea.

"I just feel bad for Sawyer. He will have to spend a good chunk of his day at a nail salon watching you three getting pampered and gossip." He said.

I laughed at that notion.

"I am sure he won't mind." I tell him. _Probably not the most ideal thing to do on a weekend, but he gets paid to do it, so I guess it's not too bad._

I quickly change into a pair of jean shorts with a navy tank top and I pair all of that with simple black flip flops. My hair is pulled back in a pony tail and I don't plan on wearing any makeup.

I give Christian a quick kiss on the cheek before heading to the elevators with Sawyer.

….

We arrive at the Oasis nail spa in about 10 minutes. This nail spa is a very posh n place that has famous celebrity customers. _I wonder if Mia used the Grey name in order to schedule an appointment here…._

I walk into the nail spa and am greeted by the two women at the reception desk.

"Hi, I have an appointment with a few of my friends to get our nails done." I say.

"Your name, miss?" one of the women asks me.

"Im Ana Steele, but I am sure that the name should be under Mia Grey." I say to them.

The two ladies look at me for a second and smile. _They know exactly who I am._

"Yes, your party has arrived. Right this way." One of the women shows me to the back of the salon where they have a private section closed off just for us. I walk in to see Kate and Mia, the two of them are already sipping on some champagne while trying to choose what color they would want for their nails.

Mia turns around and runs to give me a hug. _Happy Mia is back!_

Kate smiles and waves at me.

"You came just in time, Steele. Get your butt over here so you can choose a color." She says.

Within seconds, I am offered a flute of champagne and I make my way to where the other two are.

"I think I would rather do French tip on my fingernails and I want to do black on my toes." Mia says to one of the ladies who will be doing our nails.

"I want ruby red on both my fingernails and toes." Kate says. She sits down and grabs a nearby magazine.

I decide on white for both my fingernails and toes.

We all agree to get our toes done first.

"Mia, you are very upbeat and cheerful today. Can we safely say you moved on already?" Kate asks Mia.

"After crying my eyes out and watching some sappy romantic comedies, I realized that I can't just sit around and mope all day. I need to move past this. Have I moved on already? Maybe. Im in a good place right now surrounded by the people that I really care about and that's all that matters at this point." Mia says to both of us.

"When you say maybe, are you saying yes?" Kate continues to pester Mia.

"I'd rather not tell the journalist." Mia giggles.

Soon Sawyer walks in to check on us.

"Everything is fine, Sawyer. You can tell that to Christian." I reassure him.

"I know. Christian just wants me to check up on you every now and then." Sawyer says.

"God, he is so overprotective of you." Kate says. "You're at a nail spa with your two closest friends and yet he still thinks that you're in grave danger."

I don't say anything to that.

"Ms. Kavanaugh, Mr. Grey is worried that Ethan might show up and want to make amends with Mia. The security team has tracked down Ethan's phone and it has been located in this area. I am here to stop him from ruining your spa day." Sawyer said.

Kate said nothing to this and continued to flip through the magazine that she had on her lap.

"Ugh what does he want now? I don't want to see him. I've made it very clear by not replying to his texts or answering his calls." Mia said.

"Ms. Grey, I can assure you that you will not see Ethan even if he does show up." Sawyer says.

I've noticed that he is slightly blushing when he speaks to Mia. Mia has the same exact blush on her face.

Mia simply nods her head and Sawyer leaves soon after.

"So, when did you and Christian want you wedding?" Mia asks me. I am pretty sure that she is just asking that to not draw any more attention on her, but I know that something is up and I am sure that Kate noticed as well.

"Mia, is there something going on between you and Sawyer?" I ask her.

Mia hesitates to answer the question.

"I guess you two were going to find out anyway. The day that I was moving to my parents house, Sawyer admit that he has always liked me and that after all of this is over, he wants to take me out on a date." Mia says. She blushes even more and smiles.

"Mia! That's great news! Does Christian know? Do you have the same feelings for Sawyer?" Kate asks Mia excitedly.

"Christian has known from the beginning and according to Luke, he has given his approval already. Yes, I do have feelings for Sawyer. I've always had a crush on him, but I doubted that he felt anything." She says, her eyes gleaming with happiness.

 _I can't believe that Christian didn't tell me about this. He knew all this time and didn't say a word to me._

"Well, I am happy for the both of you." I say to her. And I mean it! It never occurred to me until now that Mia and Sawyer will make a great couple.

"Did you guys go out already?" Kate asks.

"Not yet. He plans to take me out somewhere after our Sunday barbeque." She says with excitement.

"Do you know where?" I ask.

"He didn't say where. But I don't want anything big. I just want to get to know the guy." Mia says.

At that point, all our pedicures are done and our nail ladies have started working on our manicures.

"Ana, you didn't answer my question yet." Mia said to me.

"Yeah, when is it Steele?" Kate asks.

"What are you two talking about?" I ask the two of them. I know exactly what they are talking about, I just wanted to annoy them a little bit. _There is no way that they will get what they want out of me._

"You know exactly what we are asking about, Steele. Don't play games with us. I know that you and Christian have decided when the wedding will be. Now spill!" She implores.

"You are right. We did decide on when it will be, but I can't tell that to you now. " I tell them.

"Why so secretive? Tell us now!" Mia demands.

"I wish I could, but I have made a promise not to tell everyone until we are altogether as a family." I explain to them.

"That means we will know at the Sunday barbeque?" Kate asks.

"Yes, you two will just have to wait." I giggle.

"Ugh fine, if you insist." Mia says.

"I honestly can't wait until my wedding." Kate says. "I have already spoken to my mom about the wedding dress designs and as we speak she is designing one for me."

Leslie Kavanaugh's wedding dress designs were amazing. I certainly cannot see what she will do for her daughter's dress.

"I was thinking that the color scheme of the wedding will be grey, white, and pink. The bridemaid dresses will be grey and all of you will have pink rose bouquets. I want you all to be barefoot because we are getting married on a beach and I doubt that anyone wants to wear heels in the sand." Kate says.

Although my wedding will be before Kate's, she has definitely put more thought in hers than I did.

 _I think after we announce it at the barbeque, I will have to put more thought into it. I know what I want, I just have to think of the minor details._

"Kate, that sounds beautiful. I cannot wait!" Mia exclaims with delight.

I am glad to see that everybody is happy. Our nails are done and we all make our way back to our homes. We need to get ready for the barbeque. Christian said that we can bring our bathing suits since there is a pool that we can all take advantage of. I decide to wear a simple black bikini with a matching terry coverup. Nothing fancy because I want to be comfortable at the same time.

I really wanted to tell Mia and Kate about when my wedding will be, but at the same time I am glad I didn't. I want everyone to find out at the same time. It will be more special that way and no one will feel as though they were the last people to hear the news.

 **Next chapter: The Grey BBq party**


	6. Chapter 6

**Christian's POV**

The suspense is killing me and probably everyone else around us. Ana and I did a good job of not telling anyone about when our wedding will be, so we can tell only the people that we both love at the family barbeque.

I know that announcing our news at a barbeque party isn't the most ideal way to tell everyone about our happy news, but Ana and I are very family oriented people. We would much rather tell our news to them at a family get together like this instead of just telling everyone individually.

Speaking of family, there is a surprise waiting for Ana at my parents' house.

Ana is good at reading me and I am pretty sure that she knows something is up. We are currently making our way down the tree lined driveway of my parents' house and I can feel Ana's eyes staring at me. I stop the car right next to Elliot's and am about to open the door when Ana stops me.

"Christian, when were you going to tell me that Mia and Sawyer are a thing?" Ana asks me.

To be honest, I was going to tell Ana about them, but I realized that she will find out eventually because both of them will be at the barbeque and I would think that they would be showing some type of affection toward one another.

"Ana, I was going to tell you, but I knew that you would find out eventually and I think you would rather here it from the source's mouth, and by that I mean Mia." I explain to her.

"I get that and I am not mad at you, but I just want you to know that eventually we will be husband and wife and I don't want there to be secrets that we have to hide from one another. " Ana says. She puts her left hand on my leg. Her engagement ring sparkles in the interior light of the car.

"I agree with you. I promise you that I will not keep anything from you, even if it as small as this." I tell her. ( **A/N: When Christian says "even if it is as small as this" he is talking about the Mia and Sawyer thing that he didn't tell Ana about. Small being the secret)**

Ana smiles and I kiss her on the lips before we both exit the car and head up the steps to the door.

I can tell that the barbeque is in full swing because of the aroma of ribs being grilled and Mia's squeals as she jumps into the pool.

We ring the bell and soon are greeted by my mother.

"We have been waiting for you two." My mom tells both of us. She gives Ana a hug and me a kiss on the cheek.

Ana makes her way to the backyard of the house and I follow suit until my mother stops me.

" My sweet boy, please tell me that Ethan won't show up today and ruin our barbeque. It is already too much to handle with Mia being upset. Thank God she is in a much better mood now and I hope that she continues to be happy throughout the remainder of the barbeque." My mom says to me.

" I can assure you that he won't make an appearance here and if he does, he will have to make it past Taylor and Sawyer and then through me." I tell my mom with certainty.

My mom simply nods and makes her way to the kitchen. I head outside and I can see that everyone is enjoying themselves. My father is by the grill flipping over some burger patties. My brother Elliot is floating in the pool. My sister Mia is socializing with Ana and Kate. Everything seems as perfect.

The doorbell rings. _Ana's special guest has arrived!_

I walk over to Ana and lead her back into the house.

"Whats going on, Christian?" She asks me.

"There is someone here to see you." I tell her.

The door opens and in walks in her father, Ray.

Ana's face is priceless at that moment. For a minute she stands there with her hands over her mouth. Soon she runs over and hugs her father.

"Daddy!" She squeals.

"Annie, its nice to see you." He says, hugging his daughter.

I spoken to Ray over the phone yesterday and he was beyond thrilled to hear that he was invited to our barbeque. He doesn't get to spend time with his daughter and I know how much Ana misses her father, so I decided that it would be great if he made a surprise appearance to the party. _The surprise being for Ana. My mother and father already knew that he was coming._

"Thanks for the invite." Ray said to me.

No problem, Ray."I say to my future father –in-law.

After embracing her father, Ana turns to me, still bearing that surprised face that she had earlier.

"I don't know what to say, Christian. " She says, wrapping her arms around me.

"You don't have to say anything, Ana. Your happiness is all that matters to me." I tell her.

We share a quick kiss, before we head into the back of the house again.

Everybody greets Ray with warmth and lots of kindness and I know that Ray feels like he is part of the family, which he is. I remember meeting him for the first time. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous, _he was a former Marine and Ana happens to be his only child. I was expecting a full blown man to man talk about if I ever do something to hurt her, I will probably not live to see my next birthday._ But I was surprised and relieved when he said that as long as Ana has a smile on his face that is all that matters to him.

I grab myself a beer from the drink table. Elliot joins me.

"So little bro, when are we gonna hear the big news? " He asks me.

I look around and see that everyone is here, so I think now would be a good time to do that, except I can't seem to find Ana.

"Where's Ana?" I ask my brother.

"I don't know. I saw her a few minutes ago talking to Kate." Elliot says.

I make my way to Kate.

"Where is Ana?" I ask her.

"Christian ,don't panic. She just went to change. " She says.

"Im not panicking. We were going to make the announcement together and now would have been the best time to do it except….." I stop my explanation right there.

 _Holy mother of God!_

Ana enters the backyard of my parents' home looking exceptional in a simple black bikini that would look plain on any other woman that would wear the same thing, except on Ana it looks amazing. She looks around the room, trying to locate where I am until she finally sees me. She smiles and makes her way to me. I get an instant hard on and fortunately for me and everyone else around me, it is well hidden because I am wearing black swim trunks.

"Ana, are you trying to kill me?" I whisper seductively in her ear.

She slightly blushes and giggles.

"Of course not!" She says. "Why would I ever do that?"

She wraps her arms around me and pulls me into a kiss. She slightly gasps as she feels my hard on poking her.

"I need you." I tell her, kissing her neck.

"Baby, we can't do this here. My dad is only a few yards from us." She states to me.

"Im aware of that. Don't worry; I have a plan." I reassure her.

At this moment, everyone is here, so I guess that now is the time.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" I say, loud enough that everyone can here.

Everybody stops what they are doing and face me and Ana.

"We have been keeping this secret to ourselves since we made our decision. It was quite a challenge keeping if from all of you, but we did it and now it is time that we reveal to you what we decided." I continue talking. I look at Ana who simply nods at me, giving me the green light to tell our family the news.

"We decided that we would like to have our wedding next spring, here at Bellevue." I say.

Everybody cheers and claps for us. I look over to my mom who is wiping tears that are flowing down her face. She looks very happy and I for one am glad that she is excited.

"We can finally start making wedding plans." Mia gushes as she runs over to give Ana and me a hug.

"Sounds great." Ana says. "You will be one of my bridesmaids."

Mia squeals.

"Yay! I am going to be a bridesmaid in two weddings!" She says, excitedly.

 _Oh boy does Luke have his hands full!_

After everyone has received the news, I pull Ana away to my room upstairs. I need my woman, pronto.

We make it inside the house and are about to walk up the stairs when I hear a voice that I didn't want to hear, ever again.

"Sir, you are not to come in. You're not allowed on the premises." Taylor tells someone.

" Taylor, I need to speak to Mia. She hasn't been answering my calls or texts. Please let me see her!" the someone says. I turn my head over to the front door and see Ethan. He looks disheveled and in a desperate need to see my little sister.

"You will not be allowed in, Ethan. Mia doesn't want to see you. Frankly, she doesn't care about your existence anymore. You hurt her and shocked everyone in this family. So no, I suggest you leave the premises before Mr. Grey finds out." Sawyer tells Ethan in a commanding tone.

I leave Ana's side. Ana asks me where I am going only to get her answer just by looking at the doorway.

"What do you want?" I retort at Ethan. Taylor and Sawyer move to the sides, so I can deal with this asshole.

"I want to speak to Mia. What about is not your business." Ethan says, harshly.

"Sorry, but you can't. And I have to let you know now that you are trespassing my parents' property and causing a disturbance so I suggest you leave now before you get into even more trouble." I say.

"You're not the boss of me, Christian. " He takes a step and attempts to cross the threshold of the door when Taylor and Sawyer block his way.

I grab him by the collar of his shirt.

"You are messing with the wrong family, Kavanaugh. You better walk away now if you want to keep that pretty face of yours." I threaten him.

He punches me in the stomach with one of his hands. As much as that hurt I get a hold of him before he makes an attempt to get into the house. Sawyer and Taylor take him by the arms and lead him away.

I make my way to the back of the house.

Ana rushes to my side along with my mother and father.

"Baby, are you alright?" Ana says. I sit down in a lounge chair.

Both of my parents look concerned.

"Im good. That prick made an appearance. He tried getting into the house, but Taylor and Sawyer stopped him. He punched me in the stomach before he was lead away by the two of them." I explain what happens.

"That guy is up to no good." My father says, taking a sip of his beer.

"Christian, do you feel good? Because I can give you some pain relieving pills." My mom says to me.

"Im fine, mom. Thanks for the concern." I tell her.

Elliot, Mia, and Ray make their way to me.

"I cannot believe this." Ray said to me. "I always thought that Ethan was a nice kid. I can't believe that he would do that." I am guessing that Ray has already been told about what Ethan did to Mia. I can understand why he doesn't believe any of this because he knew the fucker since he was a child and Ethan was probably always making an effort to seem like a good kid, when in reality he isn't.

"Its shocking to all of us, Ray." My father tells him. "We thought that he was a nice guy, but after he hurt our Mia, we were certainly surprised. He isn't welcome here anymore."

" I would break his bones if he was Ana's boyfriend." Ray says.

I gulp at the sound of that. Luckily, I don't intend to hurt Ana, so I shouldn't worry about what Ray had said.

All of us decide to retreat back to the house to eat some good barbeque. Of course we aren't going to forget about what Ethan had done both now and a few days ago, but for now we are just going to enjoy each other's company which is the only thing that truly matters.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ana's POV**

He just had to make an appearance and kill the mood. Does he not understand that nobody wants to see him let alone talk to him? Mia is making big strides into moving on and frankly doesn't want to hear the name Ethan anymore.

I looked at Mia when Christian told us what had happened at the front door of his parents' home. She had a blank face on. She was probably reliving the moment when she saw with her own eyes that her boyfriend that she had cared for and loved had been cheating on her. _I wonder what would have happened if Ethan had found out that Sawyer and Mia have a thing now. Would that have made Ethan even more willing to see Mia and set things straight with her? Or would he have backed out in defeat?_

Elliot gives his sister a side hug. She smiles, but I know that it is a forced smile.

Kate is just standing next to me, casually drinking her beer. All of this must be killing her right now. She feels embarrassed. As Ethan's sister, she probably thinks that everyone doesn't trust her. She doesn't want the Greys to think of her as the direct reflection of her brother because she isn't. Kate would never cheat on anyone because she knows it hurts and Kate wouldn't hurt anyone unless it was 100% necessary.

We all make our way to the inside of the house to eat some barbeque. Taylor and Sawyer have been called in to join us as well. Although they are just Christian's security, the Grey family treats them like they are part of the family.

I sit next to Christian and wait for everyone else to sit at the table. Sawyer walks over and sits next to Mia. He gives her a folded piece of paper. Mia takes it from him and rips it into little pieces. _Must have been from Ethan._

She is about to go over and through them away when Sawyer takes the pieces into his hands. He kisses her on the forehead and goes into the kitchen.

Mia lets out a sigh.

"Does he not get it? I don't want to see him." She says.

" He probably thinks he still has a second chance that you are willing to give him." I say.

"There is no way in hell that I will give him a second chance. He hurt me. And frankly, I don't trust him anymore." Mia says.

By this time everyone has sat down at the table. I was hoping that we would all talk about something else, but the topic of Ethan seemed to be on everyone's mind.

"Im sure glad that Christian was the one who intervened with Ethan. If it were my the boy would probably not see tomorrow."Carrick said.

"Why can't Ethan just leave us all alone?" Elliot asks. "He is well aware that we don't trust him after what he did to Mia."

" He is just hoping for a second chance that he will never get." Christian says.

After a while, I started to get annoyed with the conversation and I can tell that Mia isn't liking it one bit either.

" Can we please talk about something else?" She asks. " I love the fact that everyone is concerned about my well being, but I am perfectly fine now. I can reassure you that I will not be talking to Ethan anytime soon and if he makes an attempt, I will be sure to just ignore him just like I have been doing for the past couple of days."

The conversation turned to the weddings. Kate was really excited about that topic. I am just as excited as she is, but I have yet to think about what my color scheme will be and what the menu will be at the reception.

"Maybe we can have the reception after my wedding here." Kate says to Grace.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Kate." Grace tells her future daughter in law.

"Have you put any thought about your wedding?" Mia asks me. I assume she is going out with Sawyer after the barbeque since she is only eating the potato salad that Gretchen prepared and not the barbeque.

" I just know that we are having it here. Other than that I have nothing."I say to her.

"Steele, you have a lot of time to decide on what you want and how you want it." Kate says to me.

She does have a point. I have ideas about what I want for the wedding, but I just need some help deciding some things.

" I am willing to help you, if you need any help." Mia says. She looks a more upbeat now than she was when we first got to the dinner table.

"I would love your help." I smile at her.

The barbeque was delicious and soon after, desert was served. We had strawberry shortcake soon after the barbeque. It was probably the best strawberry shortcake I have tried.

After we chowed down on the food, we made it into the living room. Christian stepped out to make a few calls. I sat down next to Kate.

"My brother just had to make an appearance. That guy seriously needs to get a clue." She says.

I simply nod my head. Kate hasn't gotten over the situation at hand, unlike everyone else who seemed to have forgotten what had happened earlier.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Greys didn't trust me anymore. They think it runs in the family." Kate went on. She ran her right hand through her blonde hair, a gesture she does sometimes when she is worried.

"Kate, stop saying that. You are not like Ethan. You're an engaged woman and everybody knows that you are madly in love with Elliot. You wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that love." I tell her.

" I get it, but Mia moved in with him. They were doing so well and yet he goes out and cheats on her. They probably think I would do the same. I will get married to Elliot and cheat on him during the course of our marriage." She said to me. "They don't know that I have been in Mia's shoes before. I know how it feels and I wouldn't want Elliot to feel that way."

"I doubt that the Greys think different about you since this all happened. Quit worrying about this." I reassure her.

Soon, Christian steps back into the living room. After a while it is time to leave.

We silently walk back to the car.

…..

After 10 minutes of silence, Christian starts to talk.

"I called Welch after we ate. I was really mad that he didn't alert me about Ethan. We had an agreement that when Ethan will be in the area where we are, he would let me know to prevent such encounters from happening." Christian said.

"Im sure Welch didn't mean to not tell you. He probably didn't want to disturb you while you were at your family's barbeque." I tell him.

"Welch told me that he was unaware of the fact that Ethan would make an appearance at Bellevue and even if he did, he couldn't have warned me because Ethan had changed his number." Christian says. "That sly bastard."

Since Ethan has been part of the Grey family for a long time, he has become accustomed to Christian's ways. He knew that he was being watched and in order to stop that, he went in and changed his number.

"Welch managed to find out his new number,so now we got tabs on him ones again. This time he will not get off our radar." Christian continues.

"Hopefully, he gives Mia some space. Seems like he still hasn't come to terms with the fact that she doesn't want to see him anymore or hear from him." I say.

"He won't get any close to Mia. Mia has a CPO and she has Sawyer now, so we can all rest assured that he won't get near her." Christian informs me.

I don't respond. We finally make it to Escala. Within minutes, we are in the elevator heading to the penthouse that I call home.

As soon as my head hits the pillow, I am out like a light.

 **Next Chapter: Mia and Sawyer's date!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Mia's POV**

As much as I loved the barbeque that we had as a family, I've been looking forward to my first date with Sawyer.

I spent the entire barbeque trying to be cool around Sawyer. I didn't want to ruin my chance at a first date with him by being over giggly like a high school girl. It was hard to do since that is my personality. I like to laugh and have a great time with the people that I care for. But I had to give it a shot and all went well.

I change into a black blouse with ivory roses on it and some dark denim skinny jeans. I pair it with a pair of black flats. I wanted to wear some heels with the outfit but I opted for something comfortable because I would rather be comfortable on my first date and not have to worry about falling, which I tend to do a lot when I wear heels. _Yes, I can be clumsy._

I do a minimal amount of make up and head down the stairs.

"Sweetheart, you look great. " My mom says.

"Thanks mom." I say to her. I look at myself one more time in the mirror.

"Sweetie, you look fine. Don't make the guy wait any longer than he already is." My mom says in an insisting manner.

 _Did she say guy? How does my mom know that I am going on a date with Sawyer?_

I look at her slightly puzzled.

She lets out a laugh.

"Honey, Im your mother; I know things. And besides, I knew something was up because I saw the way Sawyer was with you during the barbeque. Im glad that you are feeling happy now and I hope that Sawyer will treat you the way you need to be treated." She says, her eyes glint with pride and joy.

" I have no doubt in my mind." I say to her. I give her a kiss on the cheek and finally exit the house to meet up with Sawyer.

Once Im out the door, I am about to walk down the steps to my car when I bump into Sawyer.

"And where do you think you're going?" He asks. Sawyer is looking good as usual. He is wearing a crisp white button down with some light wash jeans. His beautiful blue eyes sparkle with amusement in the light of the porch.

"I thought I was going to meet you at the café." I tell him. _Wasn't that the plan?_

"Change of plans, my lady."He says with a wink. He retrieves a long stem red rose and gives it to me.

 _How sweet of him!_

I blush when I bring the rose up to my nose. Roses are my favorite flower. Someone had to tell him that because I don't remember saying that to him. _Maybe a lucky coincidence…_

"Thank you." I say.

"You are very welcome." He says. He takes me by the arm and leads me to his car. Being the gentleman that he is, he opens the door for me.

He is certainly a charmer. I can't wait to get to know him more.

 **Sawyer's POV**

The day has finally come. I have to admit that I feel as though this is my first date ever, even though its not. For some reason and I cannot explain why, but I feel slightly nervous. I know it has nothing to do with the fact Mia is my boss's little sister. It most likely has to do with the fact that I want everything to be perfect. She's had a rough week; full of unnecessary heartbreak and a load of tears. I want to restore happiness into her life again. That same exact happiness that she felt when she was with Ethan, except I am no Ethan. _I don't even want to be compared to that person. Can you even call him a person after what he did?_

I start the car and soon Mia and I are on our way to our first date. Mia thinks we are going to Le Jolie, a popular French café, but little does she know that we aren't going there.

Mr. Grey already knew about my first date and got us a reservation to the Seattle Needle Restaurant. Now I know that the environment there is rather formal and we will probably stand out in a restaurant full of Seattle's elite, but that's the least of my worries. As long as Mia is happy, then that is all that matters.

"Luke, I think we just passed the café." Mia points out.

I smile.

"We aren't going to the café. I decided on taking you somewhere much nicer for our first date." I tell her. I want to look at her right now and see her eyes sparkle with excitement , but I have to keep my eyes on the road. This time of the night there are a lot of crazy drivers and I don't want to risk having a car accident on my first date.

" So where are we going then?" She asks. I can feel her eyes on me.

"It's a surprise." I tell her.

Mia turns her head and looks at the street that we are on.

" Well, we just passed some five star restaurants, so I don't have any idea where we are headed." She says.

We finally make it to our destination and I pull into the valet parking.

"Wait a second, this looks very familiar." She says.

I don't say anything. We get out of the car. I walk around to open the door for her like I did when she first got into the car.

She blushes slightly at the gesture.

Hand in hand we enter the structure and make it into the elevator.

Mia scans the elevator buttons for a few seconds after I hit the last elevator level.

" Luke Sawyer, I got you all figured out." She says, crossing her arms and smiles.

"Do you now?" I ask, playfully.

"We are at the Seattle Needle. We are going to the Seattle Needle Restaurant." She says.

" Yes we are." I tell her.

After a few minutes of smiling, Mia looks slightly upset.

"Whats wrong, Mia?" I ask her.

"It's a formal restaurant. We aren't even dressed formally." She says.

I turn to face her.

" Its fine, Mia. We are here to start the beginning of something that we both want. Who cares if people are going to look at us funny? It shouldn't matter to us." I explain to her. The elevator opens up to our floor.

" You're right. Clothes aren't everything. I am here to have a good time with you and that is all that should matter to me." She says. I take her hand and we walk into the restaurant.

The last time I was here, proposed to Ana. The restaurant was closed off only for the Grey family. Now it is in full swing, filled with the wealthiest people this state has.

We walk up to the host.

" We have a reservation under the name Grey." I tell the hostess.

"Yes, right this way." The hostess leads us to a table for two right next to the window. The view was exceptionally beautiful.

"Oh my God, the view is amazing." Mia gushed as she looked through the window.

I nod in agreement and pull out a chair for Mia.

" Such a gentleman."She says.

I sit down in my seat in front of her.

The waitress comes with a bottle of champagne in her hand.

" Compliments of Christian Grey." She said. She quickly opened it and poured it into champagne flutes.

 _Mr. Grey's generosity is endless._

"I would like to propose a toast for new beginnings." I say.

"To new beginnings." Mia says.

We take a sip of the champagne and our date has officially begun at that point.

Mia doesn't hesitate and asks me about why I decided to go into security.

" It all started since I was a little boy. I always wanted to protect people. I knew that college wasn't for me, so I decided that I will join the army after graduating high school. All the men in my family have served in the military,so I knew that I will end up doing the same at some point in my life. The army has basically carved me into the person I am today." I explain to her.

"Well that explains a lot." She says. I can tell that she is genuinely interested to get to know me which I appreciate.

"Tell me about your family." Mia says.

" I came from a middle class family. I was the only child. My father wasn't around much because of his military career and because of it we had to travel a lot from place to place. I never had the chance to make friends since we traveled from one base to another. My mother has taught be everything that I know from cooking to laundry and she always told me to do what you love. She never got the chance to do what she wanted, so for her to know that I actually enjoy doing something, it's a huge deal. " I say.

"I would like to meet her one day and your father. " Mia says.

 _That would be nice._

" My father and I haven't spoken in a long time. We never had a great relationship; I don't know why. Im sure that it has something to do with the fact that he didn't have time to build a relationship with me." I tell her.

"Well he should be proud of his son. He's a great guy." She says with a smile.

I simply nod and take another sip of champagne.

We order our food. Mia decides on a Chicken Picatta while I get filet mignon.

I decide to ask Mia some questions, since she had done the same to me.

" Why did you decide to go into the catering business?" I ask her.

"Well, in reality I could have went into anything because of the Grey name. I have always spent time in the kitchen watching either Gretchen or my mom cook. I would help as well and I realized that it brought me an overwhelming sense of joy. I liked to see people's reactions when they tried the food that I prepared. My senior year of high school, I got into a prestigious culinary school in France and spent 4 years there working with the greatest chefs in the world. When I came back here, I decided that I would like to open up my own catering business and I think it was a great decision." She says.

"Its nice that you went and done all of this on your own. You didn't just use the Grey name just to get by." I tell her.

" Everybody around me thought that. As much as I love my family, I knew that I wanted to carve my own path. I will still carry the Grey name, but as a last name only." She says.

There is more to Mia then what meets the eye and that's what is drawing her to me. She is more than just Christian Grey's sister. She is a business woman herself and strives to make herself known because of what she does.

We get our food and it is delicious. The steak was prepared medium rare, to my liking, and I have to say it was probably the best steaks I have ever tried.

Mia also marveled at her food.

The rest of the evening was spent in laughter and a great conversation. For dessert, we shared a strawberry cheesecake which was so good that we almost fought over the last piece of it. I let her have it, being the gentleman that I am.

It was a wonderful night that unfortunately was going to end.

"I had a great time." Mia said as I walked her up the steps to the front door.

" Me too. Probably the best first date I had by far." I say to her.

Mia giggles.

"Im sure it wasn't the best ever." She said.

" Mia, Im serious. I had a great time with you and I want to do this again sometime." I tell her.

" I would like that." She says.

She was about to open the door. _I've been a gentleman the whole night. I need to give her a goodnight kiss. This is what ties it all up._

Before she opens the door, I take one step in her direction. Our eyes meet and I know this is the perfect moment to act.

I take her beautiful face in my hands and kiss her on the lips. I wanted to do this for a really long time and now that I am, I feel like a kid opening his Christmas presents. Mia puts her arms around me and we stand there for a few minutes, showing one another how we truly feel.

Soon we break the kiss.

"Goodnight Mia." I say to her.

" Night Luke." She says. She opens the door and closes it behind her.

I head back to my SUV feeling a wave of happiness that I haven't felt in a really long time.

 **Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ana's POV**

"So you're telling me that you haven't even thought about what dress you are going to where on your wedding day?" Jose, my assistant asks.

I giggle at his shocked tone of voice.

"I haven't thought about it. I have ideas, but I haven't had the time to actually sit down and think about what is it that I truly want." I tell him.

Its been a long day since the moment I stepped onto the publishing floor. We have received another shipment of manuscripts that need to be done by the end of this week. We are all doing our fair share of work, but it seems like we might have to double up on work because a few people have called in sick.

" I can see that you are a very hardworking woman. But you need to sit down and think about your wedding. Its your big day. And every single woman's day of heartbreak because Seattle's most eligible bachelor is going to be a taken man." Jose tells me. " You are one lucky woman, Ms. Steele."

I slightly blush at that remark. Yes, my fiancé happens to be a very rich man, but everytime I look at him, I just see the man that I feel in love with.

" Yes, I am a lucky woman." I tell him. " Jose, I would love to chat some more but we both know that we have a lot of work to do. "

" You are right, Ms. Steele." He says. "But before I leave I have to say, if Christian Grey was my man, I would probably not leave the house let alone the bedroom." He winks and I burst into laughter. The gay men of Seattle also have the hots for Christian.

I continue the manuscript that I have been working on. It is on the online publishing website that Christian had created. I must say, it makes everything so much easier. Although many people have now resorted to doing publishing online, we still get manuscripts by mail. Eventually, that would become obsolete, but only time will tell when that will happen.

Sawyer sits in my office. He heard the entire conversation that I had with Jose because I saw him suppress his laugh every now and then.

I really want to ask him about how his date went with Mia, but at the same time I don't want to meddle into their personal life. _Christian probably knows how it went._

Soon I get a phone call. The caller ID shows that it is Mia. Sawyer walks out the office to give me some privacy.

"Hey Mia." I answer the phone.

" Hey Ana, how are you? I hope I am not being annoying." She says. She sounds the way she normally is: upbeat and bubbly.

" You're not being annoying, but we will have to keep this conversation short. I do have to get back to doing my work." I tell her.

" Of course. I just wanted to tell you how my date went with Luke." She says.

Mia spends the next few minutes telling me how it all went down.

"He decided to take me somewhere nice on our first date, so we went to the Seattle Needle Restaurant. " Mia says. _I fondly remember that place. I got engaged there and have eaten there a few times with Christian. Certainly a nice place to take someone on their first date. Im sure that Christian helped Luke get a reservation there._

"Well, that's really nice of him." I say.

" We had a nice time despite the fact that we didn't meet the formal attire guidelines of the restaurant, but in all honesty, it didn't bug me at all. We got to know each other and that's all that matters." She says.

"And you are 100% correct. Now tell me, he was a gentleman the whole time?" I ask her.

" You got that right. It was a nice feeling to be treated like that. I felt like I was royalty." Mia replies.

"That's the way a man is supposed to treat you." I tell her. " Anything else happen on your date?"

" He took me home and that's it." She tells me. _Judging by her tone of voice, she is leaving something out._

" Did he kiss you?" I ask her.

" Omg, he did! Ana, it was an amazing kiss. I felt that feeling. The feeling you're supposed to get when you kiss the one you love." She said excitingly.

" Oh my! Mia, that's great! I am so happy for you. I knew that Luke will treat you that way. He looks like he would know how to treat a woman." I say to her.

" Im really excited to see him again." She says to me.

"Are you guys planning to do something together some time?" I ask her.

"We haven't decided yet, but we have been texting." She says. _So that's who he was texting when he was sitting in my office._

" Im sure it will happen real soon." I tell her.

" I hope so. Well, I have to get going. I will talk to you soon." She says to me.

"Okay. Have a nice day, Mia." I say and at that point our conversation has ended.

" You can come in, Luke." I tell him.

Sawyer walks in.

" Ms. Grey, I just spoke with Jose and he told me to let you know that you have a meeting with an author. Someone by the name of Shane Harper. Its in about 5 minutes. I didn't want to intrude on your phone call."

I simply nod and get back to work.

 **Christian's POV**

I have a meeting with the department chairs today at noon. Ros is in Dubai, closing a deal that we have with them. She is the one that normally holds these type of meetings, but since she is not here, I am the one that needs to preside over them.

I spoke to Sawyer today and he told me that he had a great time with Mia last night. Im glad that the two of them hit it off and I hope that everything works out well for the two of them. I trust Sawyer to treat my sister the way she needs to be treated. I know for a fact that Sawyer would not break her heart. He is no Ethan Kavanaugh; that's for sure.

My work phone rings and I pick it up.

"Grey." I answer.

" Sir, this is Welch. It seems like we have a problem." Welch tells me.

 _What the hell is going on?_

" Whats going on ?" I demand.

" Ethan Kavanuagh's phone was detected on the premises of GEH." Welch answers me.

 _Ugh this fucker doesn't get the fucking hint!_

"Does that mean we can track him down?" I ask him.

" We can, but there's a problem, sir. We have his number tracked, but the cameras haven't shown him. No one that fits his description has entered the premises. " Welch explains to me.

 _How is that possible?_

"That doesn't make sense. The only way that would be logical is if he went in wearing a disguise…" I start to say, but don't finish my sentence.

 _That sneaky bastard. Where is he headed? I doubt he is going my way; he knows that I would break his bones. The reason he is here is to see Ana._

" Welch, get a camera check on the publishing level. I think Ethan is here to see Ana. " I state.

"Will do sir. I already alerted Sawyer. He is aware of the Ethan situation." Welch tells me.

" Good thinking. Please keep me posted. I hope he doesn't get near Ana." I say.

" I will make sure that he won't." Welch says.

I end this conversation and immediately dial Ana's receptionist who should have Ana's schedule.

" Steele and Grey Publishing." Olivia answers.

" Olivia, its Mr. Grey. Can you tell me if Ana has any meetings today?" I ask her, sounding panicked.

"Yes, Mr. Grey. She has a meeting with Shane Harper in about 2 minutes." She answers.

 _Who the hell is that? Could it possibly be Ethan?_

"Has he arrived yet?" I ask her.

" Yes, he has,sir. He is currently walking to her office." She says to me.

 _This can't be good._

" Okay. Thanks, Olivia." I say. We end the conversation.

I run my hand through my hair.

 _Why can't he just leave my family alone?!_

"Sir, Sawyer has the situation in his hands and knowing him, he won't let him near Ana." Taylor reassures me.

At this point, I have to leave my office for the department chair meeting. I could cancel the meeting and make my way to the publishing sector and deal with the Ethan situation myself, but at the same time, I am obligated as the CEO of GEH to hold meetings with my department chairs to make sure that everything is running smoothly.

 _I just hope it's nothing, but something tells me that this Shane Harper guy is Ethan Kavanaugh._


	10. Chapter 10

**Ethan's POV**

I'm not a risk taker. I don't gamble. I know that I don't have any luck what so ever, so I don't even bother with those things.

Why did I cheat on Mia? It all happened suddenly and I deeply regret what I did.

It was my first day on the job that Elliot had given me. I was given the task to create a blueprint of a home that some wealthy man wanted Elliot's company to build. He had given me some requirements that I had to meet. I had a great idea for the home and managed to plan it all out in a matter of time. But I quickly realized that I failed to add some things that the man wanted in the home. He wanted it all done by the next day and it was done, but not to his liking. The man was very furious when I told him the bad news and walked out before I could ask for an extension. He called Elliot and told him that he doesn't want to do business with him anymore because his employees are irresponsible. Elliot was really mad at me and told me that he needs time to decide whether or not he will keep me or fire me.

That same night I decided to go a local bar next to Grey Construction. I told Mia that I would be coming home late. She was completely understanding as she always was.

I sat down next to a blonde woman who after a while started to talk to me. We talked and I told her about the situation that I was in at work. She told me that everything will be fine; my boss will realize that it was a careless mistake and he will not fire me. I felt a little better about my situation. She told me that she had just went through a break up and she needed to a little moment to herself hence why she was at the bar.

She was a nice woman who also happened to be very beautiful, but I had no intention of jumping into bed with her. After a round of drinks, one tends to not think straight and even not capable of walking straight.

She agreed to drive me back home which I agreed to at first, but then changed my mind for no logical reason. She then took me to her apartment. Upon opening the door, I just leaned in and kissed her. What started as just a peck on the lips, turned into a full blown make out session which lead to the bedroom.

I don't remember what exactly happened the morning after. The only thing that I do remember was Mia crying at the doorstep and Christian looking like he would kick my ass in any second without warning. Since this moment, my life has been total hell : I've been fired from Grey Construction, Mia moved out of my apartment, she isn't responding to any of my calls or texts, and no one of the Grey family wants to see me or speak to me ever again. Not to mention that my sister Kate can't even look at me without feeling angry.

…..

After making several failed attempts to talk to Mia, I realized that if I can't talk to her personally, I decided that the only thing that I have to do is to speak to Ana. She is close to Mia and whatever I tell her, I would want her to pass it on to Mia. I want Mia to find it in her heart to give me a second chance. What I did was stupid. I wasn't planning on doing it, but I was drunk and I couldn't think straight. Hopefully Mia gets a chance to see that.

I know that I wouldn't be allowed inside GEH let alone where Ana works so I decided to disguise myself. I put on some reading glasses, temporarily died my hair a different color; _yes I would go that far just so people can hear my side of the story_ , put on a plaid colored shirt and some khaki pants, and walked right into the building. The day after Mia found out that I cheated on her, I got a new phone and changed my number. I knew that Christian was tracking me down and to prevent him from doing so, I had to do that.

I made an appointment to speak with Ana, using a fake name. I made it seem like I was an author who wanted to speak personally with someone at publishing.

When I walked into GEH, I was ready for Christian's security people to be standing right in front of me, ready to through me out of the building, but I thought wrong. There were so many people walking in and out of the building that nobody noticed me going in, _and since I had the disguise no one would know that it's me._

I made it into the elevator and was headed to Steele and Grey Publishing.

When I am on the floor, I make my way to the reception desk where I tell the lady there that I am here to see Ana. She tells me to sit down and wait a few minutes because Ana is currently busy.

After waiting a few minutes, the lady tells me that she is available and has Ana's assistant Jose lead me to her office.

Ana's office is not far away from the reception desk, nestled at the end of the line of cubicles.

Jose lets Ana know that I am here and Ana walks out from her desk to greet me.

Ana is a stunning woman. She could have been mine, but I didn't act quick enough and because Christian Grey had already stolen her heart. I frankly don't know what she sees in him, but I assume when she does its all dollar signs. I know that is a little harsh to say about someone that I have grown up with, but its true. Christian Grey is nothing but an arrogant ass hole. He is known to get his way and it is clear that he is willing to do a lot for Ana. Before Christian, Ana didn't care about clothes or jewelry. Now she only wears high end clothes and expensive pieces of jewelry. It only makes me wonder if she has turned into a little bit of a gold digger.

"Well Shane Harper, it is nice to meet you." She says. Her beautiful blue eyes sparkle with kindness, as they have always done.

" And you too, Miss Steele." I tell her. I disguise my voice so it sounds nothing like me. In the corner of my eye, I see Sawyer right behind me.

I am about to sit down when he puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Ms. Steele, I'll have you know that Shane Harper here isn't really Shane Harper." Sawyer says. With one swift move, he takes my reading glasses off.

Ana looks at me for a moment, studying me. Seconds later, her kind demeanor turns cold.

" Ethan?"She asks.

I sigh.

"Yes it's me. I came here to explain to you what really happened." I tell her. "Mia won't hear me out, but I know that you will, Ana."

Ana rolls her eyes. " What is there to tell me, Ethan. You cheated on her. Your explanation won't change anything. Please leave." She tells me.

Before I get a chance to do so myself, Sawyer leads me out of the room.

" You changed, Ana. You're not the same person I remember from my childhood. I see Christian has certainly changed you as a person. You're nothing but a gold digger." I spat.

Ana just closes the door behind her and does not respond to me.

I may have been too harsh, but I mean no harm. I just want one person to know the truth.

Sawyer leads me out of the publishing sector and into the private elevator.

" How can you deal with them, Sawyer?" I say.

Sawyer doesn't say anything to that.

"You don't have to answer that. I know that you can't speak bad against your boss. He would probably fire you or worse hire a hitman to kill you." I say.

That must have pissed off Sawyer because soon he had me pinned to the elevator wall where I was standing.

" Listen to me you heartless son of a bitch, don't you dare speak bad about the Grey family. They are good people, they just happen to deal with ass holes like you every now and then. It was really brave of you to come up here and pretend that you can get away with it, but you knew very clearly that whoever messes with Christian Grey and his family doesn't exactly get away with a slap on the wrist." He says, very angrily.

"I don't care what he does to me. Im not afraid of him." I spat at him.

Sawyer does not let go of me.

"You should be, Kavanaugh. I would do the same if I were him. I would break all your bones for what you did to Mia." Sawyer says.

 _Since when do you care so much about Mia?_

"Why do you care about Mia? You like her?" I ask him, smirking.

"That's none of your business. And for your information, that was very stupid of you for letting someone as special as her get away." He tells me.

The elevator stops, but Sawyer still has me pinned.

" Well, you can have her. Maybe you can teach her a thing or two in the bedroom" I say.

Sawyer lets go of me and leads me to the end of the hall which leads us to the lobby of GEH.

I begin to walk away when I see two officers walking toward me. They put handcuffs on me.

"Ethan Kavanaugh, you are under arrest for trespassing GEH" one of them says.

I don't budge. I won't take a risk and run away because in the end they will find me. I listen to the other officer reading my rights and the two of them lead me into the cop car.

It sucks that I didn't get a chance to explain my side of the story to Ana. But now that I think about it, I don't think she would listen to me. She's been brainwashed to believe that I am no good by her fiancé, so I doubt that anything that I would have said would have changed her mind. Deep down in her heart, she knows that I would never do such a thing. I would never intentional cheat on someone. If I could turn back the clock and change my actions that day, I would have acted differently. But what happened was entirely my fault and now I have to live with the consequences.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for reviewing! Im glad that you're liking the story so far.**

 **Ana's POV**

 _" You changed, Ana. You're not the same person I remember from my childhood. I see Christian has certainly changed you as a person. You're nothing but a_ gold _digger." Ethan spat._

I ignored his words and quickly closed the door of my office behind me. This little encounter with Ethan was a waste of my time.

I sit back down at my desk and continue to work on the manuscript that I am almost finished with.

Sawyer comes up a little while later.

"Ms. Steele, I can assure you that Ethan has been arrested for trespassing and will not be bothering you or Mr. Grey anytime soon." He says. He sits down at his usual spot.

"Thank you, Sawyer." I say, not lifting my eyes from the computer screen.

" You shouldn't take his words to seriously. Everybody knows he's an ass." Sawyer says to me.

" Im not taking his words personally. The majority of people in this country believe the exact same thing as he does." I tell him with a sigh.

"To hell with what they think. At the end of the day, you are the one that knows the truth and they don't. " Sawyer says.

" I know. I just hate how people think so low of me. I am 100% in love with Christian for who he is, not because he has money."

" Ms. Steele, we all know that. We can see it in your eyes; that's why you shouldn't care about what others say about your relationship with Mr. Grey. " Sawyer says.

Sawyer steps out of the office because he received a phone call and minutes later Jose enters the room.

"Ms. Steele, I am so sorry that you had to deal with that man. He is simply stupid for saying such things to you. " Jose says to me.

"How did you hear what he said when you weren't here when it happened?" I ask him. _You should be working Jose, not eavesdropping._

" Well that man was quite loud and I think that I am not the only one that heard what he said to you." Jose answers me.

 _Great now the whole floor heard Ethan!_

"You shouldn't worry though. Everybody here signed an NDA, so I doubt that you would hear about this in US Weekly." He said, reassuringly.

I just give him a small grin and nod. He puts a stack of finished manuscripts in a cardboard box in the corner of my office.

" Would you like me to bring you something?"He asks me.

"Some tea would be nice." I tell him. I give him my mug and he quickly leaves my office and heads to the kitchen.

 **Christian's POV**

My meeting with the department heads was about to begin when Taylor called me aside.

"Sir, Ethan has been arrested." Taylor tells me.

"That's good news. Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief." I tell Taylor.

He simply nods and I begin the meeting.

It goes by pretty smoothly. Our numbers for the past 12 months seem to be on the rise and everything is running the way it is supposed to be. The meeting was over shortly, but I had to stay after to answer some questions that my executives had. Luckily there weren't that many questions to answer.

After the meeting, Taylor and I head to the publishing level. I need to see Ana. I want to make sure that she is okay and not shaken up by the whole Ethan thing that happened an hour ago.

We take the private elevator and as soon as we get to the floor, I am out the elevator in a matter of seconds.

Ana is in her office, her blue eyes glued to the computer screen in front of her. Sawyer is sitting at his usual spot and when he sees me he walks out of the office. At that moment, Ana looks away to the computer screen and sees me. She smiles.

"Ana, how are you?" I ask her. I lean forward to kiss her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Im fine, Christian." She tells me.

" Im sorry that you had to deal with that ass hole. From now on, everybody who makes an appointment with anyone will have to show an ID before going into the appointment. That way we can prevent these things from happening." I tell her.

" I like that idea." Ana says. _She sounds a little down. It must be because of what he said to her._

"Baby, I know Ethan said somethings, but you know better not to believe him." I tell her.

"I know that, but it just hurts a little. I hate how everyone thinks that I am some gold digger when Im far from one. Im tired of it! Why can't people believe that you can love someone for who they are?" She says.

"Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. There are women and men out there that get paid to make stuff up about people like me and you. Ana, I know that you love me for me and that money isn't something that would make you love me more than you already do. Please don't take what Ethan or anybody else who isn't trusting seriously. " I explain to her.

Ana sighs.

" I know that. At the end of the day, I know what is right and I shouldn't care about what others say about me and you." She says to me.

"That's the spirit. Now why don't you finish up whatever you are doing, so I can take you out for lunch." I tell her.

She smiles.

"Okay, let me just save this manuscript ."She says. After a few mouse clicks, Ana stand up out of her chair and walks out of the office to where I am standing. Ana is wearing a denim dress with some black boots. This outfit is simple ,but on Ana it looks like a million bucks.

I wrap my arm around her and we make way out of the publishing level.

"Olivia, I will be out for lunch." She tells the receptionist.

" Okay, have a nice lunch. I will let Jose know that you are out of the office." She says.

We step into the elevators and head into my car.

We drive for a few minutes. Soon I hear car tires shriek on the pavement and then everything goes black.

 **Sorry for the short chapter. I will update as soon as possible!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Lets find out what happened…**

 **Still Christian's POV**

I wake up with an intense headache. I look around the room and realize that I am in a hospital.

 _What how did I get here?_

The last thing I remember was that I was driving Ana to lunch. What happened on the way there is something that I for some reason cannot remember.

My mother rushes into the room. Her blue eyes look very concerned.

"Oh my sweet boy! I am so glad that you are okay." She says, putting her hand on my arm and kissing me on the cheek.

"Why am I here?" I ask her.

She lets out a sigh and sits beside me on the hospital bed.

"You got into a car accident. And according to the police report, you were rear-ended." She tells me.

 _Car accident? That does clear up the fact that I am here._

"Where's Ana?" I ask her.

 _I hope to dear God that everything is okay with her. If I lose her, I don't know how to live._

"Ana is fine, Chrisitian. She is just resting in the next room." My mother reassures me.

"Thank God." I say with a sigh.

" Everything is alright with both of you, so you two can be discharged soon. " She says.

I thank her with a smile.

She smiles and leaves the room to check on the other patients.

I get out of bed and make my way to Ana.

She is resting when I walk in. She must have sensed my presence because she opened her eyes slowly.

"Hey." I say. I sit down on the side of her bed. I take her hands into mine.

" Hi." She says to me, giving me a smile.

" My mom said that we are free to go home." I tell her.

"That's good news." She says. "Do you know what happened?"

" Yes, we got rear-ended on the way to lunch." I explain to her. " I would hope that this is all accidental, but until an investigation is done, we won't really know for sure."

Ana sighs.

"It will be alright, baby." I say. I pull her into a reassuring hug and kiss her on the forehead.

"I hope so." She says. We both walk out of her hospital room hand in hand and leave the hospital.

Taylor is already waiting to pick us up. He acknowledges our presence with a nod and opens the door for Ana to get into the SUV. I follow her into the SUV.

"Are we headed back to work?" Ana asks me.

 _Um we were just in the hospital, a little shaken up after the accident and you want to get back to work?!_

"Ana, we are going home. I can work from home and you need to just relax." I tell her. I don't want Ana to immerse herself into work just yet. She need to take the rest of the day off.

"Baby, I still have some manuscripts to finish through the online publishing website." She says to me.

" I know, but you can finish them later. As soon as we get to Escala,I will contact those people and see if we can work out an extension. " I say to Ana.

"Won't that make us look like we aren't good at reaching deadlines?" Ana asks.

"Ana, we rarely ask them to make extensions, so no it won't make us look like we can't reach deadlines. It will make us look like we want more time to work on the manuscripts so they can be perfect." I tell her.

Ana doesn't argue with that.

We arrive at Escala.

We make our way up to our penthouse. Ana heads to our bedroom to take a shower and rest. I head down to my study.

"Sir. I have some news regarding your car accident this afternoon." Taylor stops me.

"What is it?" I implore.

" The police have done their investigation. They are still doing it as we speak. Whether or not you want your own separate investigation is up to you, but they have reviewed the tapes and they believe that the car accident was done on purpose."

 _Ugh, I knew it! I had a gut feeling that it was done on purpose. Now I know that it can't be Ethan because he was arrested, so who is it then?_

"So who is it?" I ask Taylor.

"We tracked down the license plate of the car that rear-ended you ." Taylor stated.

"Well… who is it, Taylor?" I ask him again. "Why are you stalling?"

Taylor clears his throat.

" The woman that Ethan was cheating on with Mia." He answers me.

 _Wait why her? What did we do to her? Oh I know, her man is out of a job, which means no fancy presents. I doubt that he did buy her anything fancy…_

"Oh for fucks sake! Why can't these people just leave Ana and I alone?" I say, my tone is slightly high.

" Sir, I cannot answer that question, but I am sure with further investigation we can understand why this all happened." Taylor says.

"Thank you, Taylor." I tell him. He leaves the room and goes back to the security room.

I go to the kitchen and ask Gail to pour my a glass of scotch.

"Does Ana need anything?" She asks me.

"Im not sure. When will dinner be ready?" I ask her.

" In about 10 minutes. Tonight's dinner will be a string bean casserole and with a side of French bread and some fruit salad for desert." She says.

"Thank you, Gail. " I say.

 **Ana's POV**

Once I make it to the bedroom, I fall onto the bed and just lay there for a few minutes.

 _What a day! First Ethan makes an appearance thinking that he can somehow sneak through Christian's security without getting caught. And then we get into a car accident while trying to have a nice lunch together. Sounds like something out of a movie.._

Ethan won't quite until he gets his point across. What exactly is his point? Why does he continue to pester us all when he should just live with the fact that what he did was wrong and it did cost him.

I am glad to hear that he is arrested, maybe that will give him some time to think about his actions and hopefully from that point forward he will realize that there is really no point in trying to explain his side of the story because quite frankly, it is pretty obvious.

I hear a knock on the door.

"Come in." I say.

Its Christian looking slightly disheveled. The buttons on his collared white dress shirt is undone and he doesn't look the least bit happy.

"Dinner is ready in ten minutes." He says, sitting on the bed next to me.

"Thanks for letting me know. I will go and take a shower." I say.

I start to gather my things for the shower. Christian is still sitting on the bed.

I'm about to go in when he speaks.

"Taylor told me that the police are running an investigation of our car accident and it appears that the person who rear-ended us did not do it on purpose." He says to me.

"Who did it?" I ask him.

Christian runs his right hand through his hair. _Oh Geez, just tell me!_

"The woman that Ethan was sleeping with." He answers me.

"But why ?" I ask.

" We don't know exactly. She could be siding with Ethan and she most likely believes that the way we are currently treating him is not fair. She just wants to make more damage for his sake, but she won't get far." I say to Ana.

" Ugh, why can't people just leave us alone?"Ana says.

"I was asking myself the same thing." I tell her. " Don't worry about it too much, baby. Everything will be fine." I tell her.

She doesn't say anything and heads into the shower.

 _I just wish that all of this Ethan crap can end soon. I am getting tired of it and so is everyone else in my family. I will get to the bottom of this, if it's the last thing that I'll do._


	13. Chapter 13

**Ana's POV (12 months later)**

" I really like this one…. But I also like this one." Kate said. She had a beautiful lace wedding dress in her left hand and a strapless high low one in the right hand.

"Why don't you try them both on and then make your decision." I said to her.

Kate was definitely flustered. Kate and Elliot decided that they cannot wait any longer and decided to have their wedding this summer. Although there was a time crunch that faced them, everyone in the family was supportive of their decision. They also decided on having the reception right on the beach as well .

As for my wedding goes, everything is pretty much set in stone. My spring wedding will be on March 20th , the first day of spring. Both the wedding and the reception will be at Bellevue. Kate's mother Leslie Kauvanaugh will design my dress just like she did for her daughter. I already gave her some ideas on the dress: simple, but at the same time elegant. Leslie promised that whatever she thinks of, I will definitely like and I trust her. She is known for her wedding dress designs. The color scheme for my wedding will be lavender and white. My bridesmaids will have lavender dresses, but each of them will have their dress designed to their liking. I don't want to force them to wear dresses that they are not comfortable in.

"Okay Ana, I am ready to show you the first dress." Kate says from the fitting room.

Soon she comes out in a beautiful dress ( the one that was in her left hand). It had lace sleeves that connected it to a long white dress that was also adorned with lace. Kate admired herself in the mirror. Leslie came into the room and soon was crying tears of joy after seeing her daughter wearing one of her creations.

"Kate, you look beautiful." She said, choking back the tears.

Kate turned around and smiled at her mother. She was also crying tears of joy.

"I can't believe that I am getting married." She said.

She looked back at the mirror.

" You know what, mom, I think this is the one. Ana, what do you think?"Kate states.

" I love it. You look amazing as ever." I tell her.

"Okay then it is settled." Kate announces.

"So you're not trying on the other one." Leslie asks Kate.

" I would, but I really like this one. " She answers.

Leslie goes into the fitting room to retrieve the other dress and put it back into the show room.

Kate goes in and changes into her normal clothes.

Seeing Kate in her wedding dress made me really giddy about my wedding. Soon, I will be trying on wedding dresses with Kate and Mia by my side. Mia was supposed to join us today, but she cancelled last minute. Today, she is catering for a business luncheon, so she won't have time to stop by the boutique.

Kate appeared by my side, a few minutes later.

" You're not going to look at shoes ?" I ask her. Not only does Leslie have a wide selection of dresses, but she also has wedding day shoes to go with them.

"My mom told me not to look at the wedding shoes. She says that she is going to get a new shipment of shoes earlier this week so I will stop by and check them out as soon as they arrive." She says to me.

We walk out the store and walk into a nearby coffee shop. I order my usual English tea with an orange cranberry scone while Kate orders an double shot espresso with a blueberry muffin.

"I am so excited for my wedding, Steele. I cannot contain my excitement." Kate says as she sits down at our table by the window of the coffee shop.

"I can tell. You remind me of a giddy school girl." I tell her. I am happy for Kate. Very soon, she will start a new chapter in her life with Elliot. The two of them are definitely a match made in heaven. _And I am not just saying that because she is my best friend and because he happens to be Christian's brother; they are perfect for one another._

Kate smiles and takes a bite out of her muffin.

" I was thinking of having a bachelorette party in Vegas." She says. " I just wish there was a way that we can talk Christian out of not bringing security for you."

" That's not gonna happen, Kate. You know Christian; he won't budge on that topic." I tell her. "He would either let me go with security or not let me go at all."

"True, but I don't see the problem. You are going to be with me and everyone else and we are just going to have fun. He should just stop being so paranoid." She says.

She is right. If Kate has her bachelorette party in Vegas, we are going to have a great time. If security is there, they would report to Christian everytime a stripper grinds on me and that would infuriate my fiancé who would probably storm into the place and cause a scene.

" I will try to talk to him, but I doubt that he will be lenient. " I tell her. I drink some of my tea.

"Well, you need to convince him that it's a good idea. There is no way that I will have a bachelorette party without my best friend." Kate tells me. " I mean, Ethan is out of the country and he has no clue about the bachelorette party , so its not like he will show up and even if he does, he won't be allowed to go in anyway because it's a girls only thing."

After Ethan got out of jail on bail, he left the country. Nobody really knows why, but I am hoping that when he does come back to the states, he will not continue to pester the Grey family as it will land him back in jail. But I am sure that he has long given up with the idea of a second chance with Mia because he is still with his fling girl. She was also put behind bars for several hit and run accidents in Seattle, but she was very lucky to have Ethan bail her out or else she would have stayed behind bars.

"I will talk to him. I will do my best to convince him that we would be better off without security at least for the bachelorette party." I tell my best friend.

" I just hope he puts his guard down for one night. Im asking for one night, Ana. You make sure he understand that." Kate instructs me.

" I will make sure that he understands that." I let her know.

We finish up our drinks and munchies and head our separate ways.

…

" How was wedding dress shopping with Kate?" Sawyer asks me. Although I could have easily drove back to Escala, Sawyer made it clear that he was going to do so, _Christian's orders._

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. She immediately fell in love with a dress and she made her decision right then and there that she will be wearing that dress to her wedding." I answer him.

Sawyer doesn't say anything to that and continues to drive back to Escala. I don't like driving in silence so I decide to ask him about Mia.

"I wish that Mia came with us today." I say.

" She told me that she would have came, but she had a big luncheon to cater, so she had to cancel last minute." Sawyer says.

" How are things with you two?" I add. _This is the perfect time to ask him._

"Everything is perfect. We both enjoy one another's company and there is always so much to talk about."Sawyer tells me.

"That's great! Are you two planning to do something together any time soon?" I ask him.

" After the luncheon, I thought we can have a picnic at Volunteer Park." Sawyer says.

Volunteer Park happens to be a very nice park. I have been there a few times and I do believe it's a wonderful place to have a picnic.

"That's a great idea. Im sure she will love it." I tell him.

I can see Sawyer smile. I can tell that he is looking forward for his date later on today.

When we arrive to Escala, I head straight to the elevators and make it up to the penthouse. Once there I make way to the kitchen.

Gail is busy chopping up vegetables when I enter the kitchen.

" Hello Ms. Steele. Would you like me to make you something?" She asks me.

" Not right now. I had some tea and a scone with Kate a while ago, so I am not really hungry. " I tell her. "I would like to ask you for a favor."

" Yes. What is it?" She asks, still chopping veggies.

" Would you please make Christian's favorite mac and cheese tonight for dinner?" I ask.

"Of course, I can. Is there anything else you would like?" She says.

" If its not too much work for you already, you can throw in a garden salad for dinner as well." I tell her.

"Nonsense, Ms. Steele. I am more than happy to make a garden salad as well." She says.

"Thank you so much Gail. " I say with a smile.

" You're very welcome." She says. "And just so you know, I have already made Mr. Grey's chocolate cake earlier. Its in the fridge."

 _Ah, Christian's favorite desert! By the looks of it, if everything works out tonight, Kate will have a security free bachelorette party. There will be security just not Christian's security._

" Gail, I would like to spend the evening with just me and Christian. If there is nothing else left for you to do, you can have the night off." I let her know.

" Certainly, after I am done preparing the mac and cheese and the garden salad."She says with a smile.

At that point, I leave the kitchen and head upstairs. I thought that it would be a great idea to convince my man by treating him to a nice dinner and some love making later on. I know he would realize something is up because he will be eating his favorite foods for dinner, but I will do my best to not say anything until after dinner is over.

 **To be continued….**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Ana doesn't seem a little off (I am sorry that it seems like it). I think its just my current mood that's being reflected in Ana….**

 **Thanks for the reviews!**

 **Christian's POV**

I arrive home after being in the office for half a day. I don't like working on the weekends now that I have Ana, but we are having difficulty making a deal with the people of Dubai. We have a completely fair deal on the table, but for some reason they want more. Many would say that it is a good time to back out of the deal, but Im not a quitter.

The elevator doors open to the penthouse and I can smell mac and cheese. _Its nice coming home to a beautiful fiancé and some mac and cheese!_

I head to the kitchen to see what time dinner will be ready, when I find Ana taking out the food and putting it on the table. _Um where is Gail?_

Ana turns around and walks over to me, snaking her arms around my neck and pulling me into a kiss.

"Hey baby." She says.

" Hey beautiful. Where is Gail?" I ask.

" I let her go for the evening. I just wanted to spend it with you and no one else." She said. She kisses my on the lips and then moves to my neck.

I pull her closer to me and let my hands wander down her back. I pause my hands on her perfect ass and give it a gentle push so she can feel my now growing erection.

I hear someone clear their throat not far from me. We both break away from one another and I turn to see Taylor standing in the doorway.

" Taylor, it appears that my fiancé wants the spend the evening with me alone. She has already let Gail go for the evening and it would be most appropriate if I do the same for you." I tell him.

" Yes, Mr. Grey. " He nods and leaves the kitchen.

" Let's eat first and then we can continue what we started." Ana says.

I silently agree with her and head upstairs for a quick shower. I could find this a little weird. Ana has never let my housekeeper go for the evening; I usually do that. My favorite food is prepared for dinner and it's not even a special occasion. _Oh shut up Grey! She just wanted to do something nice for you. You should be thanking her!_

It would be nice to spend an evening with Ana, alone without any distractions what so ever. We need to catch a break! And hopefully we can tonight.

…

I meet Ana in the kitchen. She has already warmed up the mac and cheese and has already placed some garden salad on both of our plates. Two glasses of white wine stand next to the plates.

" Let's toast to finally catching some peace and quiet." I say once Ana is finished plating the mac and cheese.

Ana raises her glass to toast and takes a sip of wine.

"So I hear that Kate has chosen her wedding dress already." I say after I take a fork full of mac.

" Yes. I was there. She looked amazing in her wedding dress." Ana says to me. "She is really excited for her wedding."

"Elliot is just as excited. He can't stop talking about it. That's probably the only thing he talks about now." I say. Its nice to see my older brother talking about things that are appropriate. Before Kate, he would talk about how he got laid the other night.

" The wedding will be here before we know it and I think that we should have a surprise bridal shower for Kate." Ana says. "I actually just had that idea."

" Yeah that is a good idea. Im sure Kate would love that." I say to Ana. _My smart and beautiful fiancé._

" Yes, Kate loves surprises." Ana adds.

" Has Kate mentioned anything about the bachelor or bachelorette party?" I ask Ana.

Ana's demeanor changed once she heard my question.

" Kate wanted both of them to be in Vegas." She said, taking another sip of wine.

 _So why is that a problem?_

" I don't see anything wrong with that." I tell her.

" Me neither." Ana says. _I know that she is lying. Something is up!_

"We can have it on separate days, so it won't be a problem with security." I suggest.

Soon we finish our dinner and Ana brings out the double chocolate cake from the fridge. _Yup, now everything makes sense to me. This whole dinner was made with a purpose and it wasn't just to spend it with just the two of us. There is something more to this gesture than what meets the eye._

Ana gives me a slice of the cake and cuts a piece for herself.

"Aren't you excited, Ana?" I ask her.

"Of course." She says, enthusiastically. _She isn't good at faking enthusiasm._

I stop eating the cake and look deep down into her eyes.

"Ana, I know what you are up to . There is no need to butter me up with a double chocolate cake and some mac and cheese. Whatever it is, just tell me." I say to Ana.

Ana looks at me and sighs.

" Oh alright. I wasn't buttering you up. I just wanted to treat you to a nice dinner." Ana says. " But there is something I would like to ask you."

" Ask me anything, baby. " I say.

"After Kate found the dress that she wanted, we stopped by a local coffee shop and we talked. Kate suggested the idea of the bachelorette party and that she wants to have it in Vegas. I immediately fell in love with the idea, because it is a perfect place to have one. But Kate was hoping to have the bachelorette party without Taylor or Sawyer being there." Ana explains.

"So you want a security free bachelorette party?" I ask Ana.

"That's what Kate wants." Ana says.

"Ana, you know the answer to that. I can't fathom letting you go without security, especially in Vegas where people don't think about what they are doing." I tell my fiancé.

" There will be security outside of the place and that's all that we need." Ana attempts to persuade me.

" I know that, but I don't trust them. They fail to overlook some things that for them seem minor, but for me they are not." I say.

"That's because not everyone is like you, Christian. Can you not be paranoid for once in your life?" Ana says. She sounds unhappy; she was hoping that I would somehow by some miracle, say yes to no security at the bachelorette party. But she thought wrong. That's not happening no matter how hard she tries to persuade me otherwise.

"Im not paranoid. I am just worried about your safety not to mention everyone else's safety that will be at that bachelorette party. Not everyone has pure intentions like you do. There are people that want to wreck havoc in people's lives, especially mine now that I am engaged. " I explain to her. My voice is getting a little bit loud now.

"Everything will be fine. Nothing will happen. I will allow you to run background checks on the strippers, but that's as far as I will go and I know Kate will do the same. I don't think I would be comfortable knowing that Sawyer or Taylor are watching us as male strippers give us lap dances." Ana says, smiling slightly.

"Then I will hire female CPOs for the time being." I let her know. Hopefully, this is something that she is okay with.

"Still, they will report to you and I know how you get when you see another man next to me. You go ballistic." Ana says.

"Well at least I will know that you are safe. I am just trying to look after you, Ana. You are special to me and I don't want to lose you. I won't forgive myself if I do." I tell her.

Ana puts her hands on my face and looks at me, her blue eyes face my grey ones.

"Baby, I can assure you that nothing will happen. You are special to me too and if something were to happen to you, I don't know what I would do. I am just asking for one night with no security inside the party." Ana says, softly.

"The answer is still no. " I tell her. She lets go of my face.

"Can you be understanding for a second?" She asks, obviously not liking the answer that I gave her.

" I am very understanding. There is just no way I can let this happen." I tell her.

" You can let it happen. But you just don't want to because you don't trust me or Kate or Mia." I tell him.

"Its more about safety than it is about trust." I say. "I trust all of you just not the people that surround you."

" Well we are obviously not reaching some type of compromise here." Ana says, moving her piece of cake around with her fork.

"I did give you the option of women CPOs, but you turned down that idea." I say.

"That's not a compromise. They are still CPOs." Ana says.

"Then I guess you are right; there is no compromise." I tell her.

With that said, Ana leaves the kitchen. I decide to sleep on the sofa tonight. Im just giving Ana some space so she can think about what I said. If she isn't comfortable with male CPOs at the bachelorette party, then I can easily hire female ones. But not having an security at all is not an option. I trust all the women in my family, but we aren't talking about trust here. Vegas is a great place to have bachelorette parties as well as bachelor parties. But it can also be an unsafe place. I hope that Ana understand that I just have her best interest in mind. I am doing this out of love for her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Yes, Ana is stubborn and fails to see that her fiancé is just looking out for her safety. If I were Ana, I wouldn't even bother asking Christian about not having security because I know what the obvious answer will be.**

 **Im glad that you are enjoying the story so far….**

 **Ana's POV**

Last night was brutal. I tossed and turned and hardly got some sleep. Thank God for coffee or else I would be a walking zombie at the publishing level.

Why did I even bother asking Christian about no security at Kate's bachelorette party? I should have known the answer will be no. I told that to Kate, but she was thinking that by some miracle that he would say yes. I know for a fact that she won't be happy with my answer, but she shouldn't be surprised. _It will be a very cold day in hell when he finally changes his mind._

I didn't speak to Christian today. By the time I came downstairs, he was already gone. _Probably a meeting that he had to go to or maybe he just didn't want to see my stubborn ass anymore._ I can be stubborn at times and I will admit that I was stubborn yesterday, but that was only because I was hoping for him to see the situation through my eyes and Kate's. I understand that he just wants us all to be safe, but at the same time having CPOs will kind of kill the fun. _And everything will be reported to Christian from the lap dances to the stripteases… he will go completely ballistic and will probably show up and ruin the party!_

"Ms. Steele, would you like some more coffee?" Jose asks.

" That would be great. Thank you." I tell my assistant.

I get back to work. The current manuscripts is boring and within minutes I am done reading it. _These people need to change up their story plots because quite frankly they are getting way too predictable._

I hear a notification sound coming from my phone and I can almost guarantee that it is on person: Kate.

 **So how did last night go? K***

 **Horrible. His response was as it always was. No. No. and No.*A**

 **Damn, why does he have to be so set in his ways? Its just one night. *K**

 **I've been asking myself the same question.*A**

 **So he just said no?* K**

 **Well he did say something about having female CPOs there just for the day... *A**

 **Hmmm. That's actually not bad of an idea.*K**

 **Are you serious? I thought you wanted no security*A**

 **I know, but they are women, so they would understand the situation more than men do.*K**

 **You do have a point there, but at the same time you have to understand that they will report to him no matter what.*A**

 **So? We won't be doing anything bad. We will just be having fun; that's what we are supposed to do at a party.*K**

 **Fine. I will let him know that.*A**

 **Great! Thanks Ana. So did you two have a fight over this.?*K**

 **It wasn't much of a fight; more like an argument. He slept on the couch.*A**

 **Ouch. Well hopefully he won't have to after you tell him what we decided. I don't want you guys to be mad at each other.*K**

 **We aren't mad. I just wanted some space.*A**

 **I understand. Well I won't take up your time anymore. Ttyl.*K**

And with that our conversation ended.

 **Christian's POV**

"So does that mean that we have a deal?" I ask Ros.

I had to leave home early this morning because I had an early morning meeting with Ros. She said that she was going to call the people of Dubai this morning because she came up with a way to settle the deal once and for all.

"Yes, Mr. Grey. It means that we finally have a deal. Did you not listen to me for the past 10 minutes?" Ros asks me.

Unfortunately the answer to that question is no. I didn't sleep well last night; the couch isn't supposed to be a bed, but I had to make do for one night, for Ana's sake.

As much as I love Ana, she can be stubborn sometimes. She fails to see that I love her and I fear for her safety. The idea of not having security at the bachelorette party that Kate wants to have in Vegas is absolutely mind blowing to me. Kate and Ana both know the answer to that question,so why did they want to ask that question? I am not gonna change my mind. When it comes to security and protection of the person that I care about, the answer will always be no.

" Sorry Ros. I just have a lot of things on my mind." I tell her.

"I can tell, Mr. Grey. But whatever it is, it will work its way out. If it has anything to do with Ana, then I know for a fact that you two won't stay mad at each other for long." Ros says to me.

"We aren't mad at one another. We just had an argument, but it will blow over."I say. If I was to mention what the argument was about to Ros, she would most likely call me a paranoid control freak. Not going to deny that I am, but if I wasn't a control freak, I wouldn't be the successful person I am today.

"I have no doubt in my mind. Just do me a favor Grey, when you come home, pour yourself and Ana a glass of Bollinger and celebrate this deal. Or better yet, take her out somewhere."Ros instructs me.

"I will see what I can do." I tell her. Ros does have a point. We have fought long and hard with the people in Dubai. Its been 6 months and we have finally reached a deal with them this morning. Its nice to see hard work pay off and I would have been even more happier and proud that it did happen except for one thing…Ana. I left this morning without leaving a single note. She is probably at the publishing level right now throwing imaginary darts at me in her office.

Ros has left at this point. _I hardly noticed that. I guess I was a little lost in my thoughts._

I'm about to tell my assistant Andrea that I will leave for lunch when I hear a knock on the door. A soft knock.. a familiar one.

"Come in." I say. I know who it is. And I've been wanting to see her beautiful face the whole day.

Ana walks into the room wearing a navy and white button down shirt paired with some light wash jeans and grey moccasins. Although she opts for simple outfits like the one she is currently wearing, Ana still looks like a model that is off the runway.

I get out of my chair and walk over to greet her.

As soon as I am in front of her I take her face into my hands and kiss her.

"Ana, Im sorry…"I begin to say, but Ana cuts me off. She puts her index finger on my lips.

"Christian, you have no reason to be sorry. I am the one that is supposed to be apologizing to you." She says.

"Ana, you have been forgiven already. " I tell her, looking into her blue eyes. We both sit down on the nearby white leather sofa.

"Kate texted me today and she asked about something that we discussed yesterday. I told her that you said no and she was disappointed, but I mentioned the idea of hiring female CPOs just for that one night and she liked the idea." Ana says to me.

"So what I am hearing is.."I tease.

" Christian Grey, yes, you can hire female CPOs. Kate is having her bachelorette party in Vegas." I tell him.

Ana giggles and I pull her into an embrace.

"I don't want to argue with you ever again, Ana. The thought of you being mad at me makes me lose my mind." I tell my fiancé.

"I can't promise that. We will have arguments and its not something that we can prevent from happening. I will just try to be less stubborn." Ana tells me.

" I don't know if that's possible. You could be pretty stubborn at times." I tell her, playfully.

" I said, I will try."She says, lightly punching me in the ribs.

Soon after, we decide to go out for lunch to the Mile High Club. I haven't been there in a while. _The last time I was there Ethan and Elliot were with me and they were trying to convince me to propose to Ana. At that point we all trusted Ethan, but things have changed now. Now I am engaged and soon will be married to my love Ana. Elliot is happily engaged to his longtime girlfriend and Ana's best friend Kate. And Ethan is a sly motherfucker who thought that he can get away with cheating on my little sister with some random chick on the street._

Taking Ana's hand and walking into the restaurant, I grinned to myself. _Moments like these are what happiness is all about._

 **Next chapter: Mia and Sawyer's second date!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I would like to thank a Guest reviewer for pointing out that I've been using the word fiancé wrong (apparently there is a fiancée as well and I wasn't aware of it!). So thank you! I appreciate that!**

 **Mia's POV**

Two law firms are merging and I've been given the honor to cater at their merger luncheon.

They decided to call us in last minute and it is because of this that I had to miss picking out wedding dresses with Kate and Ana. I know for certain that whatever Kate had decided will look good on her. Kate is lucky to have a mother who is known for her wedding dress designs. Leslie Kavanaugh is the go to the woman when it comes to wedding dresses.

Everybody in the Grey household is ecstatic for the wedding. My mom is the most ecstatic out of everyone else. She must have dreamed for the day that her oldest son, the notorious playboy, finds the love of his life. And the same goes for Christian. Everybody in the family, myself included thought he was gay. It wasn't until he came over my house for a family dinner with Ana, that everyone started to think otherwise. But I am happy for the two of them and I can't wait for the two of them to get hitched!

Ping!

I get a text from Sawyer.

 **If you are not busy today, I would like to hang out with you. *S**

Sawyer is such a gentleman. I am very lucky to have him as my boyfriend. He definitely knows how to treat a woman.

 **That sounds great :) but later on. I have a luncheon to cater. Pretty last minute.*M**

 **Oh okay. After the luncheon?*S**

 **Sounds like a plan.*M**

 **Looking forward to it.*S**

Im not going to ask where he is taking me because I know for a fact that he won't tell me. And frankly, I don't mind. The last time we went on a date, he surprised me by changing what we had planned and it worked out nicely.

…

Thanks to my fellow employees, the banquet hall looks great. Instead of a communal table that most business people are used to when it comes to having business dinners, I decided to have tables set up by departments. It would be much easier to navigate with our staff and that way everything can be go much smoother. _Not to mention that there is more space and people get to sit comfortably instead of sitting shoulder to shoulder with people._

The food is already out, ready to be served. We decided on doing a buffet style. And we have an open bar. _Although I know that people will be shy around that area, I mean who wants to be drunk when their boss is around?_

Soon, the business people arrive, wearing their suits and ties. The women are also donning business style outfits, but in a more subtle style.

They find their tables and then head on over to where the food is. After a while, a long line forms and we are quick on our feet. Plates are piled high with caprese salad and pasta carbonara.

Soon they all sit down and eat the food. Judging by their faces, it seems like many will ask for seconds. _Thank God we made more food!_

All in all, everyone ended up satisfied as they left the banquet hall hours later.

"Thank you for the delicious food and everything else that you have done. I look forward to doing business with you." Said a gentleman that I presume is one of the top dogs at the law firm.

I smile kindly as he gives me his business card.

"I will make sure to tell all my friends and family about your catering business." He says, giving me a warm smile.

"Thank you, sir. " I say.

With the rest of my employees, I clean the banquet hall. I know that I can leave them all to do it and not even lift a finger, but I can't. I need to be moving and doing something.

"You missed a spot." Says a familiar voice.

I look up and see Sawyer. I did not expect to see him here. _Darn, I don't look too good right now!_

"Hey, didn't expect to see you here." I say. He walks on over and gives me a quick peck on the lips.

"I thought I would surprise you." He says. Sawyer looks around the room. "Seems to me as though everyone left happy."

"Yes, one of the men gave me his business card and told me that he looks forward to doing business with me." I tell him, proudly.

"That's great." Sawyer says. "Hopefully, by business he actually means business."

 _Aww, is someone jealous?_

"Luke, you know I won't go after an old man, when I have a stud like you." I say, putting my arms around him.

"A stud you say?" He smiles, his pretty blue eyes shining in the light of the banquet hall.

I laugh.

" Come on, let's get out of here." Sawyer says.

We leave the banquet hall and we walk.

 _Um where exactly are we going?_

" You will see." Sawyer says reading my mind. He takes my hand and we keep walking. And that is when I realize where Luke is taking me. Volunteer Park is not far from where the banquet hall is. Its my favorite park in the entire city and maybe even in the entire state, _I haven't been to every park in the state._ I wonder how he found that out.

" Are we going to Volunteer Park?" I ask him.

Sawyer doesn't say anything for a minute.

" Yes." He says with a grin.

"How did you know that its my favorite park?" I implore.

"I just knew." He said.

"Oh come on , Luke. Who told you?" I question him.

"Im not going to reveal my sources." He says.

 _Ugh fine. Im sure its Christian anyway._

I don't want to bombard the guy with anymore questions.

We finally reach the park. _I am glad that I wore comfortable shoes today, because I wasn't expecting a long walk after work._

We walk a few more feet until we reach a mulit-colored, plaid blanket on a grassy hill. On the blanket is a woven picnic basket with a red and white plaid lining.

 _How cute! We are having a picnic!_

Hand in hand we make way and sit down on the blanket.

"I had Gail prepare a picnic basket for us. " Sawyer says. He opens the basket and retrieves turkey and swiss sandwiches and some pinot grigio. _Ah my favorite wine!_

He expertly opens the bottle and pours the wine into red plastic cups.

" Lets toast to us." I say. Last time he did a toast, this time I will make one.

"To us." He says. He raises his plastic cup and takes a sip of the wine.

 **Sawyer's POV**

What a wonderful day for a picnic. I finish eating my sandwich and I look over to Mia.

She was about to take the last bite out of her sandwich, but she stops once my eyes catch hers.

I smile at her and I watch her beautiful face blush a pretty shade of pink and giggles.

"Whats so funny, beautiful?" I ask her. "Is there something on my face?"

Mia laughs again.

"No. You just caught me off guard, Luke." She says.

" Oh my bad, hun." I say.

The sandwiches were delicious and probably the best turkey sandwiches I have ever tried. _Gail knows how to make the simple foods extremely delicious. Jason Taylor is one lucky man!_

After we have desert which was watermelon, we walked around the park.

There was no place that I would rather be, but here walking around hand in hand with the lovely Mia Grey, my beloved girlfriend.

"Thank you for the picnic, Luke. " Mia says, putting her head on my arm as we walk.

" No need to thank me, Mia. I am glad that you had a wonderful time. I like spending time with you." I tell her.

"I like spending time with you too. When Im with you, it feels like I am transported to a different dimension. There are no distractions, its just you and me." She says.

What she said was simply poetic, in my opinion. I feel the same way when Im with her. If I could, I would spend time with her everyday, but we are both busy people, so we don't ever have time do make that happen.

I stop walking and Mia does the same. I turn to face her. I look deep into her blue eyes, which right now look confused. I pull her close to me and kiss her. I kiss her like nothing matters and I know she feels the same way. She wraps her arms around me and we kiss for what seems like an eternity.

Then I hear something. Lights flashing, people calling Mia's name.

 _Paparazzi, those bastards can really kill a moment._

Mia breaks the kiss and takes me by the hand, a gesture that meant that we should get out of here.

" Those people can't catch a break. Two people are having a private moment and they just have to snap a pic of it for the gossip magazines! "She says, clearly furious.

"Its okay, Mia. Lets not focus too much on that. " I reassure her, putting my arm around her.

We walk for a little bit longer until it starts to get slightly dark. Soon we head back to the banquet hall. Being the gentleman, I know I won't let Mia walk alone to the hall; and I know that her brother Christian wouldn't approve of that either. _He would probably fire my ass._

A short while later, we make it to the parking lot.

As much as it pains me, our date is over. I wish I could spend more time with her , but she has things to do and I need to go back to Escala before Christian sends a search party to look for me.

Before she gets into her car, I pull her into an embrace and kiss her again. _I can't get enough of this woman._

" Next time I will wear cuter clothes." Mia says as she sits into her car.

"Baby, I don't care what you wear. You're still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." I tell her.

Mia laughs.

" Well aren't you a smooth talker?" She says, smiling.

"Guilty as charged."I tell Mia.

And on that note, she starts her car and drives back to Bellevue and a few minutes later, I do the same, except I head over to Escala.


	17. Chapter 17

**Three months later**

 **Ana's POV**

" The dress is too loose we might need to adjust it." Leslie Kavanaugh said to one of her attendees.

The young woman wearing all black nodded her head, as I admired her interacting with her boss in the big mirror in front of me. Today is the day that the Kate's bridesmaids try on our dresses. All the bridesmaids, like myself are wearing simply grey dresses that are strapless and silver strappy heels.

Since I am the maid of honor, my dress is different from the rest. It has a dark grey bow in the back. The dress is simple, but also has a certain elegance to it, which I love. Right now, it is slightly loose in the chest area, but with a few adjustments it will fit like a glove.

"I am sorry,Ana that your dress is slightly lose. Your dress was the first one of the bridesmaid dresses that I had done and I could have sworn that I took your bust measurements into account." Leslie began to ramble.

" Its okay. It only needs a little bit of an adjustment not a substantial amount." I reassure her.

Leslie smiles and walks to the other ladies who are trying on their bridesmaid dresses.

I admire myself in the mirror one last time before heading into the fitting room to remove the dress.

Kate has only three days left to be single. Her big day is almost here!

Kate has been talking nonstop about it since last week. Every conversation that we had whether it was over text or Facetime, she always mentioned her wedding. Luckily, Kate didn't turn into a bridezilla, _and hopefully, I won't either when my time comes._ I am truly happy for my best friend and I hope that everything turns out perfect for her special day.

Unfortunately, Kate couldn't be present at today's bridesmaid dress fitting. She was sent by her boss to be at a press conference of some sort. Although she was rather disappointed that she couldn't make it to the fitting, she said that she would rather wait for the day of the wedding to see how everything had turned out.

…

Finally changed out of my maid of honor dress, I am about to leave the boutique, when I bump into Mia.

"Did you like your dress?" Mia asks me.

"Yes, it needs a little adjusting, but other than that it looks beautiful." I tell Mia.

"Mine turned out exactly the way I thought it would." She says excitingly. " Im so excited for the wedding." She twirls in her white shirt dress and claps her hand like a giddy teenager.

" Me too." I glance over to the front door of the boutique where Sawyer is standing, stoically. _Is it just me or was he smiling a second ago? Did he see Mia in her bridesmaid dress?_ All these questions ran through my mind.

"Did Luke see you in your dress?" I ask Mia.

" He did." Mia said with a smile. "He said that he might have to punch every guy in the wedding that looks at me."

"Sounds like something Christian would do." I joke. _Im pretty sure he had said something of that nature to me._

" Yeah, Im very happy with how everything is right now. " Mia tells me.

"Well, I am glad to hear that. You deserve happiness in your life." I tell her. Mia gives me a body crushing hug that I have to squeeze out of in order to leave.

We say our goodbyes and soon I am in the car heading back to Escala.

Kate doesn't know that she is in for a surprise today. I am throwing her a surprise bridal shower with the rest of the bridesmaids. It will be held at our penthouse because it is much bigger than Elliot's place and because the Mile High Club is already reserved for Kate's wedding rehearsal dinner.

We all managed to keep quiet for the whole day without saying a word and hopefully when Kate enters the penthouse she will have a surprised look on her face. _Unless Elliot or Mia had already told her about it._

 **Christian's POV**

I don't know how to react to the front page photo of Seattle Nooz. Right there on the front cover is a picture of my sister Mia in a full on lip lock with Sawyer. The cover story: Mia Grey's mystery man.

I found it on my desk in the morning when I walked into my office and I have put it off to the side the minute I stopped staring at it.

Now it is lunch time and I decided to flip to the story and read the article.

 **Mia Grey's Mystery Man**

 _The well known sister of billionaire Christian Grey was spotted in Volunteer Park yesterday, hanging out with a mystery man. Reports say that the two of them had a picnic in the park and later walked around the park. Mia looked happy and stunning as usual even though she as donning a not so date friendly outfit. It appears that she may have been doing a catering gig before going on her date._

 _But lets not get side tracked here: Mia has a new man. Rumors are swirling that it is one of Christian Grey's security._

 _Mia looks happy as she strolls around the park arm and arm with her man who we have to say is a hunk. Go Mia Grey! Reports claim that not long ago she broke up with her long time boyfriend Ethan Kavanaugh. They had a bitter break up that apparently cost the guy his job at her brother's construction company._

 _It appears that Mia has moved on and we are glad to see that. Will we be hearing wedding bells in the near future? It is too soon to say, but we can only be happy for this young woman who has built a successful catering empire from the ground up just like her brother Elliot and Christian._

Well at least they didn't make anything up about her; although they did ruin a moment that the two of them were having. If I didn't know about their relationship, then I would be mad about this. But since I approve of Sawyer, I have nothing against this article.

They can write articles about my family, as long as they don't make up stuff like Ana is a gold digger or Mia is pregnant. _Then they will have to deal with an angry Christian Grey and I know that nobody wants to deal with me when I am angry._

Ana has sent me a text not too long ago, telling me that in a short while Kate will be at Escala where she will be treated to a surprise bridal shower. It was Ana's idea and I think it was perfect! As per Ana's request, I am not allowed to be at our penthouse during the duration of the party. It's an all girls thing, which means no men and in the penthouse. Sawyer will be in the security room along with the other security guys, monitoring everything as they should be.

After work, Elliot and I are going to go to a local bar and have a few drinks; _his idea and not mine._ He wants to discuss the bachelor party. Although I like the idea of hanging out with my brother, lately the only thing he wants to discuss is the bachelor party. I sure hope that the drinks will be coming and going from our table because I know that I will not be able to sit sober while my brother talks on and on about strippers.

 **Sorry for the short chapter. The next one should be longer.**

 **I would like to again thank a guest reviewer ( Im not sure if it's the same one from last time) for the side note. I will keep that in mind when I write in Mia's point of view . I don't know if I will write about Mia and Luke's dates anymore. I will focus on the upcoming chapter about the bridal shower, the bachelorette party, and of course the wedding.**

 **I am glad that you'll are enjoying the story so far! I enjoy writing the story and making you guys happy!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Kate's POV**

I am glad that the press conference didn't last long. I think I was going to be lulled to sleep if I heard that old man who calls himself our mayor speak again. His voice is so monotone that I am surprised that no one ended up falling asleep during the press conference. I wouldn't have bothered to show up to this pointless press conference if I didn't have to write an article about it. Luckily, I know what angle I am doing for this article so it shouldn't be a problem to write.

Before sitting in the car, I check my messages. During the press conference, I was using my phone to record what the mayor was saying and therefore I could not respond to the texts that I received.

 **Ana: Hey Kate. Come over ASAP! I need some help.**

 _Probably needs fashion advice._

 **Elliot.: Babe, Christian and I are going to get a drink together after work. I'll be home later tonight.**

Since Elliot is currently preoccupied with Christian, I am going to go check out what Ana needs.

I text Ana that I am going to be at Escala in a few minutes.

While driving to Ana's place, I contemplate about my wedding. Tomorrow, we are flying out to Vegas for a weekend of fun and then after that is my wedding day. _Where does the time go?_

I am seriously counting down until my wedding. I can no longer be patient. I just hope that everything ends up to perfect; just as I had planned. _Fingers crossed!_

…

I enter Escala and step into the elevator. I punch in the penthouse code and the doors are about to close when Sawyer steps into the elevator.

"Good evening, Ms. Kavanaugh." He says, giving me a polite smile.

" Hi Sawyer. You know you can call me Kate." I say to him.

He nods.

"How is everything with Mia?" I ask.

" Everything is great. We enjoy spending time with one another." He answers me. "I couldn't be happier." He smiles when he says that to me.

 _Aw how cute!_

"Im happy to hear that." I tell him.

Soon the doors to the elevator open and I walk in, hoping to see Ana.

Out of nowhere I hear, "Surprise".

 _What the hell!_

I see everybody from Grace to Mia and a few of my closest colleagues. Then I finally see Ana and my mom.

 _Wait, is this a surprise bridal shower for me?_

" I guess you don't need my help." I say as I give Ana a hug.

"Nope." She giggles. " This is your surprise bridal shower."

"Aw, Steele! This is so nice! " I tell her. _Seriously, how thoughtful of her!_

"Well, I am glad that you liked the surprise." She says to me. "Now come one and lets get this thing started!

We head into the living room where everything is decorated in my wedding colors: grey, white, and pink. There is a table designated for presents which is stocked with gift bags and nicely wrapped gift boxes. There is a table with food that is stocked with everything from mini sandwiches to chocolate cupcakes frosted with white frosting. Everything looks well thought out and certainly really nice.

Gail comes out of the kitchen with a tray of champagne flutes. She pours champagne in each flute and hands them out to all the women in the room.

" I would like to congratulate you once again on marriage." says Grace. " I love having you as part of the family and I hope that you have a happy marriage to my son Elliot." We all raise our glasses on that notion.

"Thank you for throwing me this bridal shower. I appreciate the amount of thought that went into it. I am grateful to having each and every one of you in my life." I say, trying, but failing to hold in the tears of joy that are falling down my face.

This is simply a nice gesture on everyone's behalf and it means a lot to me.

After I dab the tears from my face and get a body crushing hug from Mia, I mingle with everyone who is present.

" Mom, you knew about this?" I ask my mother.

" Ana told me about it a few days ago. She wasn't sure if I could make it and frankly I didn't know if I was going to make it either, but I am glad I did." She tells me.

 _That's why Ana is my best friend!_

More champagne is poured into my champagne flute as it is time to open the presents.

We make a circle in the living room. Gail helps me get all the presents on the nearby coffee table.

The gifts varied, depending on who they were from.

Gail got me a set of expensive china. " I have the same set at home and I absolutely love to use the china when we host guests at my house." She said as I opened the present. The china was in blue and white with gold adorned around the edges of the plates.

My mother got me a $500 giftcard to Bed, Bath and Beyond. _Gift cards are always handy!_

Mia got me an expensive set of lingerie from La Perla. There were three sets, each in a different color: one was just black with red lace and a garter belt, second was just a baby blue teddy, and the last one was a white and grey set which had Mrs. Grey written on it in a cursive grey font.

Lisa (one of my co-workers) got me a gift basket of lotions, body spray, and soaps.

Donna (the other co-worker) got me a Kama Sutra book. _This book will definitely come in handy!_

It seems as though all the presents were opened, but there is one missing.

"Christian and I talked and we both came to a decision." Ana says. " Christian is paying for your honeymoon. Wherever you choose to go, it is all paid for.

"That's so generous of you two, but isn't that a little too much?" I ask.

"Consider it a bridal shower gift." She says with a smile.

I walk over and give her a hug.

"Thank you Ana, for everything. You're the greatest." I say.

I turn to face everyone.

" Thank you all for your gifts. They were all very thoughtful." I say.

I receive a round of hugs from everyone as we continue the party.

 **Elliot's POV**

"The wedding is only a few days away, bro." I say to Christian.

We are sitting in a local bar not far from GEH.

" Time flies by." Christian says, as he takes another swig of beer.

And he is right! It feels like just yesterday that I proposed to Kate at my parent's house. Sure many would say that isn't the ideal location to propose to your longtime girlfriend, but to me I couldn't hold it in much longer. Also, I knew that if I was going to propose to Kate, we would be surrounded by the ones we love and my parent's house was the perfect place to do it.

Never did I imagine myself getting married. I secretly always wanted to get married at some point. I always wanted to have what my parents had. They have a seemingly perfect marriage; it was clearly evident that they loved each other. I knew that at one point I had to stop sleeping around with random chicks, if I wanted to make marriage a reality, but it seemed hard. So I put it on hold and did what I had done since college. The first time I thought of marriage was when I had started dating Ana. But it wasn't until I had an accidental meeting with Kate that I realized that I can see marriage in my future.

And here I am, engaged, and soon to be married!

" Christian, did you ever imagine yourself in the position you are now?" I ask my little brother.

" No. But I knew that eventually it could happen." He says to me.

Everybody in my family thought that Christian was gay. He was always working and had rarely brought a girl home. Then one day, he brings home Ana and I can see tears running down my mother's face as she realizes that her son isn't gay. _She would have accepted him even if he was gay._ Everybody fell in love with Ana from the moment she entered my parent's house in Bellevue. I can tell my brother was crazy about her and that he was willing to treat her the way she needed to be treated.

"By the way, I need to tell you something." Christian tells me.

" Okay, bro. Im listening." I say.

" Ana and I have talked and we came to a decision." He says to me. " We decided that as a present from the both of us, we would like to pay for your honeymoon. Whatever destination that you two end up choosing, I will be delighted to pay."

"Wow, bro. That's mighty kind of you, but its too much…" I begin to say, but Christian cuts me off.

"Don't start, Elliot. It's a gift. I want you and Kate to have a wonderful honeymoon. Don't even think of not accepting the offer." Christian says.

"Thank you, Christian. I really appreciate that you are doing this for me and Kate." I tell him.

"You are welcome." Christian says to me. "After your wedding, my private jet will be waiting for you at Sea-Tac. You just tell the pilot where you want to go and he will do his magic."

"Will do." I tell him. "Thanks again, bro."

"Not a problem, Elliot." He tells me.

We spend the rest of the time talking about the bachelor party and later we retreat to our places to spend the rest of the evening with the women that we love. _Our soon to be wives!_

 **Next chapter: The Greys are headed to Vegas!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Ethan will not make an appearance in Vegas because he is out of the country along with his fling girl.**

 **Ana's POV**

We boarded Christian's private jet at noon.

The excitement on board of the jet was clearly evident. Kate was already wearing her white bride to be sash, along with a clip on short veil that I had given her.

According to Christian, we were all staying at Caesar's Palace, _most likely in some swanky suite that he managed to reserve for us and a separate one for Kate and Elliot. Mia was going to stay in our suite because Sawyer will be in a room with the security personnel._

I took a nap during the duration of the flight. I don't like take-offs, so as soon as I got on the jet, I got cozy and was out like a light.

…

I haven't been in Vegas for a long time. The last time I was here, Kate and I had just turned 21. We wanted to have our first legal drinks in Vegas. It was a dream of ours since we were in high school. Since we didn't know what our limits were, we got really drunk. Luckily enough, we somehow managed to make it out our hotel room; although known of us really remember how that happened.

I look out the window of our limo. The Vegas strip looks quite different from the last time I saw it. There are now more hotels, but everything else remains the same.

I feel Christian putting his arm around me. I lean back to his chest, and he kisses the back of my head.

"We're staying at Caesars Palace?" asks Kate, surprisingly.

" Yes we are. " Christian answers her. "Apparently the suites are nice and the pool is great." I turn to face him, giving him a questioning look.

" I personally never stayed at this hotel, but Andrea managed to book it for us." He said. He looks me directly in the eyes and pokes my nose.

"Unlike Elliot, I never brought any of my girlfriends to Vegas." Christian continued, jokingly.

"I most certainly did not." Elliot testified.

Finally our limo came to a stop.

"Yay, we are here!" exclaimed Mia. We all file out of the limo, soon.

As I get out I inhale the air. _Ah, its going to be a splendid day here in Vegas!_

Its not long before we get into the hotel room, that we are swarmed with the paparazzi.

 _"Ms. Steele, is it true that you are here for Kate's bachelorette party?"_

 _"How long are you planning to stay here?"_

 _"Mr. Grey, are you excited for the wedding?"_

They bombard us with tons of questions, which we don't answer. Lucky for us, the security usher us away from the paps and into the hotel elevator.

I let out a sigh of relief when the doors to the elevator close.

"And you wanted to have a security free bachelorette party." Christian says.

 _Great, start rubbing it in Christian!_

"How did they find out about the bachelorette party?" Kate asks.

"Lucky guess." says Elliot. "They don't know that we moved the wedding day up to this weekend. As soon as that information gets out, they will assume that we had done so because you are pregnant."

We all laugh.

The elevator doors open and we head down the hall to our designated suites.

The first one on the right is Elliot and Kate's room. As soon as he opens the door to the suite, Elliot takes Kate over his shoulder.

" Don't wait for us." He says, before hanging the do not disturb card on the knob of the door.

"Fucking Elliot."Christian mumbles under his breath.

The next suite on the left will be the suite for the security personnel. Mia was bummed to hear that she would be sharing with us. _Poor Mia, she will probably not be able to spend a lot of time with Sawyer._

The next suite after that will belong to Kate's two co-workers who are expected to arrive in an hour.

And last, but not least, our suite. Christian opens the door to the suite. I step in first and I am in ah. The room is beautiful. The living room has a stunning view of the strip and the glorious pool. Two bedrooms are in opposite corners of the room, each has their own bathrooms.

" This is a really nice suite." Says Mia. She drops her bags near the doorway and heads to the window to admire the room.

Mia comes back from the window, with a huge smile on her face.

"We should totally head over to the Forum Shops."She says, giddily.

"That would be a great idea, but I have a surprise for you all." Christian says.

Mia and I both face him, at that notion.

"Get settled in and in about an hour, you will be treated to a spa day" Christian says.

Mia gets even more excited!

" Yay! Thank you, Christian." She says, giving her brother a hug.

"Its for all the ladies to enjoy before the bachelorette party today." Christian says. "That is, if Kate decides to join you."

We all laugh.

Soon Mia and I begin to put our clothes away. I head into the bathroom to put away some toiletrees, when I feel arms snake around my waist. I look into the mirror and see Christian.

"Thanks for everything, baby." I tell him.

"Anything for you." He says. He kisses my cheek.

"Although I love the idea of a spa day, it sucks that I don't get to spend time with you." I say to him.

"I know." Christian says "But don't worry, I will make it up to you."

He pulls me into a kiss, that gives me a glimpse of what to expect later on.

I guess we are at it for a while and we probably wouldn't have stopped if we didn't hear someone clearing their throat.

We break away from our heated makeout session and turn to see Mia.

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but if we don't leave now we will probably be late to our spa day." Mia says.

" Oh my, I completely forgot about that." I say, slightly blushing.

"I can see that. You guys hardly came up for air." Mia said.

All three of us laughed.

I get my bag from my bed, give Christian a quick kiss, and soon I am off for the spa day.

 **Christian's POV**

"Are they here yet?" I ask Taylor.

"Should be here any minute." Taylor tells me.

Taylor and I are standing in the security room. We are both awaiting the two female CPOs that I hired for today. This was the compromise that I had with Ana and Kate. Since they don't like the idea of a male CPO at the bachelorette party, the only way they can have a bachelorette party is to have female CPOs there.

There was a knock on the door. Taylor went open it and in came in two women. One had light brown hair and amber eyes, the other one had black hair with brown eyes. According to Taylor, they were well trained to defend themselves and other people. Their background checks came back clean. By the looks of it, they will blend in at the bachelorette party and no one will know that they are CPOs.

"Christian, this is Amber."Taylor motions to the women with amber eyes, _probably how she got her name, and_ "Claire." Taylor points the women with black hair and brown eyes.

"Nice to meet you both. " I tell them. They both nod.

" Hopefully, Taylor has told you what your assignment will be this evening." I tell them.

" Yes, he did."Amber says.

"Good." I tell them. "Your job is quite simple and there should be no problem executing what is asked, should it be necessary."

" No problem, sir." said Claire.

"Well get yourselves settled in. The women should be coming back in about a few hours. I will introduce them to you. After that you can have the day to yourselves, but be ready to work at 8pm." I instruct the women.

They both nod.

At that notion, I leave the room and head back to my room. I was about to go in,when I hear Elliot calling my name.

"Bro, we are in Vegas and you want to just go into your room?"Elliot yells.

He does have a point though.

" What do you want to do, Elliot?" I ask him.

" Lets go to a sports bar and get some hot wings." He says.

" Okay. Im just going to call GEH and see how everything is going." I tell him.

"Christian, you are in Vegas. Do it later!" Elliot says, in a commanding tone.

 _He won't stop until I give in._

"Fine. But afterwards, I am going to make the call, whether you like it or not." I tell my older brother.

"Whatever." He grumbles.

 **To be continued….**

 **Please Review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry for the hold up on the update for this story. Life got in the way and I also had some ideas for my other fanfiction : A Modern Romeo and Juliet Story.**

 **Here you go! :)**

 **Ana's POV**

The spa day was really relaxing and a great idea on Christian's behalf.

After hours of relaxation, Kate, Mia, Jewel,Candace (Kate's coworkers), and I headed back to our designated suites. Before heading into our suites, Taylor called us into the security's room.

Christian and Elliot were in the room along with two females. One had light brown hair and amber eyes, the other had black hair and brown eyes.

"These two ladies will be your female CPOs for tonight's bachelorette party." Christian tells me.

He introduces us to the two CPOs. By their physical appearance, they look like Christian's male CPOs except with boobs. They rarely smile; they have stoic facial expressions.

"Just keep our ladies out of trouble." Elliot says to the both of them.

They simply nod their heads, but don't respond to him.

We depart the room and head to our suites.

 **Christian's POV**

Elliot had changed his mind with the bachelor party, the last minute. Instead we are going to the tables to play poker.

Unfortunately, Kate didn't change her mind on the bachelorette party and seeing how the girls are dressed for their fun evening makes me want to question whether this was a good idea.

Ana is wearing a body hugging dress that is navy in color. It is short and it looks amazing on her; _just like everything else she wears._ Her hair is curled and she almost reaches my height in her black stilettos.

"Baby, are you sure you want to go?" I ask, jokingly.

" Of course I do! I don't want to bail on my best friend just so I can have steamy sex with my fiancé." Ana says, slightly pissed off.

"I know that; I'm only kidding." I say. " But you owe me steamy sex when you come back."

" You got it." She says, giving me a wink.

I pull her close to me just to show me what she is doing to me. Instead of showing a little sympathy, she takes her hand and cups my length through my pants.

"Ana, if you don't stop I will take you right now in this hallway." I tell her.

"I don't want to give everyone here a free show." Ana says, smiling.

" Its gonna happen though, if you don't stop." I alert her.

Ana stops soon after Mia closes the door to the suite. Mia is wearing a light pink off the shoulder dress with nude heels. The dress is just as short as Ana's. I certainly disapprove of this dress on my little sister and I know that Luke isn't happy with it either.

Soon everyone else from who is going to the bachelorette party pile into the hallway. Kate is the last to show up, wearing a strapless white dress and silver stilettos.

" I am glad that there will be CPOs at this bachelorette party or else I would have went just so no stripper gets too comfortable with my soon to be wife."Elliot says.

"Oh relax, Elliot. Its just for a couple of hours. And besides no man can compare with how wild you are in bed." Kate says.

" Can't argue with that." Elliot says winking at his bride to be.

"Is everyone set?" Kate asks. All the females nod.

"Then lets get this party started!"exclaims Kate, leading the pack to the elevators.

I give Ana a peck on the lips before watching her leave down the hall to the elevators.

" Maybe you should have hired male CPOs."Elliot said.

" The only way I could compromise with your woman was if there were female CPOs at the bachelorette party." I said to my brother.

"Yeah, Kate is a hard person to compromise with sometimes, it's either her way or the highway."Elliot tells me.

"Ana is the same." I say.

We head to the elevators to get our night started. I invited Luke and Taylor to come with us; as much as I am against mixing business with my private life, Sawyer and Taylor have been with me for a while. They have seen me through my ups and downs and there were times when they had offered me friendly advice. I regard them like my friends just as much as I regard them as my CPOs.

For tonight, I had a private poker room reserved just for us. I ran background checks on all the dealers and made them all sign NDAs beforehand. I didn't want my face plastered in one of those gossip rags saying that I like to gamble away my money in my spare time.

…

"Today is your last night you are going to spend as a bachelor." Sawyer says.

" Yeah, never thought this day will come, but I am glad it did. There is no one else I would rather spend the rest of my life with than Kate." Elliot says.

"I am glad that you are finally settling down." Taylor says. "There comes a point in a man's life when he realizes that he can't spend the rest of his life alone."

Elliot nods in agreement. "I wanted exactly what my parents had. I hope that's what I will end up having."

" I can tell you that it won't always be smooth sailing. There will be a little rough patches here and there, but that's only natural." Taylor says to Elliot.

"As long as you don't end up going back to your old ways, everything should be fine." I tell my brother.

" Since I met Kate, I have officially stopped being that person. That was the old Elliot. The new Elliot is a man who is madly in love with only one woman." Elliot says.

We play a few rounds of poker while drinking and talking. It was nice to sit around and just have some man talk with the men that I regard as family.

Tomorrow, we will be back to Seattle where we will have a wedding to get to and a reception that will precede it.

 **I decided that I will not give a glimpse of what the bachelorette party was like. I can tell you it was just like any other bachelorette party with lots of drinking and strippers, but most importantly it was a night that Kate won't forget as she departs Vegas and flies back to Seattle to get married to her love.**

 **Sorry for the short chapter. The next one is the wedding. It will most likely end up being a few chapters long (maybe 2 or 3, I still don't know yet).**

 **Please Review!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Kate's POV**

After we land at Sea-Tac, the next couple of hours will be hectic. We split off from the men and drive to the hotel near the beach where we will get ready for my big day.

I have to admit that I am nervous, but it's a different kind of nervous. It's the kind of nervous where you know that in the end you will be happy. _I just hope everything goes as planned!_

My mom is a little unhappy that I didn't invite Ethan to the wedding. I would have invited him, but I doubt that anyone wants to see him after what he did months ago. I have spoke to him before leaving to Vegas. He understood the reason why he wasn't invited to my wedding. I honestly wish things were different; that my brother would be a guest at my wedding, but I didn't want to risk another fiasco when he is around the Greys.

"Kate, the wedding dress along with the bridesmaid dresses have arrived." My mom tells me. Soon, a young man that works at my mother's wedding boutique carries in an armful of black garment bags. He takes the one and puts it on the hanger on the door and leaves to distribute the others.

My mom opens the garment bag and retrieves my wedding dress.

It is just as how I last saw it. I can't wait to put it on.

I look at my mom and I see tears running down her cheeks. She catches me looking at her.

" I can't believe my baby girl is getting married." She says, taking a tissue from the nearby tissue box and dabs her eyes. "It feels like just yesterday you made your first steps."

I laugh and walk over to hug my mom. "I will always be your little girl." I tell her.

Soon there is a knock on the door.

"Its open." I say. The door opens slowly and Ana walks in shortly after.

" Mia's shoes are a size too small for her." She says. She takes a small box out of the pocket of her joggers. " Elliot told me to give this to you."

" That's not a problem. I will get a hold of Travis and he will bring her the shoes." My mom says. She immediately leaves the room, leaving me with Ana.

I sit down in the makeup chair. I open the box and in there is a pair of diamond earrings. They sparkle in the light of the room. In the box, there is a little piece of paper that says.

 _Can't wait to see you._

 _Love,_

 _Elliot_

"Those are very pretty." Ana says.

" Very pretty." I say. "I will wear them when I walk down the aisle tonight."

I pull out a small Cartier box and hand it to Ana.

"Would you please give this to Elliot?" I tell her. " They are gold cufflinks that I had customized with my initials and his initials."

Ana smiles. "I will do that right now." She says.

Ana leaves the room. I turn in my makeup chair so I am looking at my reflection in the mirror. I put the diamond earrings in my ears and put the box into my purse. The earrings look beautiful and are now sparkling even more.

I look up at the clock that is on the nearby wall. In 4 hours from now, I will be a married woman. Married to the man that I am head over heels in love with.

 _Soon to be Mrs. Grey._

 **Elliot's POV**

I gaze out of the balcony, looking at the beach in front of me. Its empty; closed down for my wedding. The sounds of seagulls flying around is the only sound that I hear. Its calming. Although I wasn't nervous the day before, I can feel the nerves now.

According to my father, the guests have already arrived, signaling to all of us that the wedding will start in a matter of time.

I am dressed in my tux. Its an all black number with no tie.

" Elliot, its time." I hear my father say.

I turn around and slowly head back into the hotel room.

" I know that you are not going to admit it, son, but its okay to be a little nervous. I felt the same way when I married your mother." My father tells me. " I actually remember having a nightmare the night before the wedding, in which I was left at the altar. Luckily, it was just a dream."

"Im not that nervous." I tell him. He pats me on the back.

"Im genuinely happy for you. "He says. All my groomsmen are at their designated spots. I squeeze through the line of them, about to make my way down the aisle.

As I walk down, I see my grandparents along with a few buddies of mine. Kate's mother is sitting with her mother and father. Kate's side is filled with close family and friends, just like mine. Everybody is chatting up a storm; some are patiently waiting for the wedding to start. My father will be initiating the ceremony and is standing not far from where I am.

* * *

Soon, the ceremony begins. Christian and Ana head down the aisle first, followed by Mia and Sawyer, and then the rest of the groomsmen and bridesmaids.

The music changes. _This is it, man. The moment you have been waiting for._

Then I see a man escorting a beautiful woman down the aisle. She is stunning as she always is. Her eyes are glued on me as mine are on her. I feel like the luckiest man in the world right now.

Finally she is right next to me. Her green eyes meet mine and for a few seconds, I forget how to speak. I take her hands into mine and I whisper, " _Beautiful."_ to her. She smiles and soon the ceremony is under way.

I cannot take my eyes off her and she can't take her eyes of me.

" Elliot, please put the ring on Kate's finger and while doing so, recite your vows." My father says.

I clear my throat and take the ring from the ring bearer ( my father's best friend's grandson).

"Kate, I knew from the moment I met you that you are special. From the moment, you made eye contact with me, I knew you were the one. I promise to be the best husband I can be to you. I promise to shower you with my love and be there for you , for the good times and the bad. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you from the bottom of my heart."

I put the ring on Kate's ring finger. I can tell that she is trying to choke back tears, but failing miserably.

"Kate, now you put the ring on Elliot's finger and while doing so, recite your vows." My father says.

"Elliot, I have never thought of getting married before I met you. And when I met you, I saw a future with you in it. I promise to be your best friend. I promise to love you and cherish you every day of my life. I promise to share your joy and your sorrow and comfort you in times of need. I also promise to be uphold your hopes and dreams. I love you so much Elliot."

She puts the ring on my finger.

"By the power invested in me by the State of Washington, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride, son." My father says.

I pull Kate toward me and kiss her.

 _Woohoo! I am a married man!_

I hear cheers and applause. Hand in hand we make it down the aisle.

We head into the tented area not far from where the wedding ceremony was held. Kate ditched her heels, saying that they were uncomfortable. Soon people followed suit.

We decided to have open seating at our wedding reception. We didn't want to make people sit next to people they don't want to sit next to.

As much as I wanted to hang out with all my friends and family at the wedding reception, Kate and I needed to get our honeymoon under way.

"We are leaving right after the slow dance." I tell Kate.

"You didn't tell me where we are going." Kate says.

"How does Paris sound?" I ask. Kate widens her eyes.

"Oh my God! I always wanted to go to Paris!" She squeals, kind of reminding me of Mia.

Kate gave me a thank you kiss on the lips before running off to tell Ana.

"Congrats bro." Christian tells me as he takes the seat next to me.

"Thanks." I tell him. "Thanks for everything."

"No need to thank me." Christian says. " I knew that it would be much safer if we were to close down the beach and it wasn't difficult to convince them to do so."

"Using the name Grey is definitely a perk, but I have to thank you Christian not only for that but for the honeymoon as well." I tell him. It means a lot to me that Christian is doing all this for me. I owe him big time.

" You're very welcome. I hope that you and Kate have a great time in Paris." Christian tells me.

"Kate's really excited. I just hope we can get this show on the road because I can't wait to have her all to myself for three weeks." I tell Christian.

Christian laughs. Soon, the food is served and it was all courtesy of Mia's catering.

Finally, it was time for the slow dance. Im not a big fan of dancing slow, but it was part of the wedding tradition. We danced to Kate's favorite song "All of Me" by John Legend.

The lyrics were very fitting for the occasion and did a great job of expressing my feelings toward Kate.

As she put her head on my shoulder and sways to the rhythm of the song, I feel the love. I feel that same love that my father feels toward my mother. The same love that brought Ana and Christian. The exact same love that makes me a married man. There is no place that I would rather be.

 **The wedding chapter turns out to only one chapter. I won't write one on the honeymoon.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please Review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Mia's POV**

Elliot and Kate's wedding was definitely something. I don't think anyone left the ceremony with dried eyes. If Elliot's wedding was simply beautiful, I wonder how Christian's wedding will be.

I love weddings. When I was younger, I wanted to be a wedding planner, but after shadowing a wedding planner in high school, I realized how hectic of a job it is; _not to mention the crazy bridezillas!_ Thankfully, my two strengths were cooking and people skills, so I decided to go into catering.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I hear Luke's voice and I turn to see my boyfriend. We share a peck on the lips before heading onto the dance floor with everyone else. The first dance of the married couple had been over. It was now everybody's chance to slow dance with the ones that they love.

"I was just thinking about stuff." I tell him. I wrap my arms around his neck as we slowly begin to sway to the sounds of jazz.

"What kind of stuff?" Luke asks me.

I look into his blue eyes and all I see is love. We've been together for a months now. When I spend time with this man, I feel like we are the only two people on the planet. He treats me like a queen. Over these past couple of months, I have come to love this man. I am no longer a broken hearted woman. Luke has put the pieces of my heart back. He made me feel whole again.

" Im thinking about you. About us." I tell him. He presses his forehead against mine.

"I think about us all the time." He says. I look around the dance floor for a bit.

" You are the most beautiful woman in this room." He says, kissing my cheek.

"And you are the most handsome man in this room." I tell him, slightly blushing at his comment.

"I love you,Mia." He says.

 _Did he just say what I think he said?_

Other than my father, no man has ever told me that he loved me. Ethan had never told me that he loved me. I don't know if he was too afraid to say it or maybe he didn't even feel love. Hearing it from, Luke made my heart skip a beat. For a few seconds, I forgot how to speak.

"I love you too, Luke." I say, looking deep into his beautiful eyes.

Soon, Luke pulls me even closer to him and kisses me. The kiss screams love. It sums up how we feel for one another, in one simple yet meaningful gesture.

" It means a lot to me to hear that you feel the same way." Luke says to me as we pull away from one another.

I smile. The music changes to something more upbeat.

"Let me see your dance moves, babe." I say. My hands are in the air, as I move my body to the beat.

Luke isn't a bad dancer, well at least to me he isn't.

The song that we are dancing to is Lady Gaga's Do what you want, one of my favorite songs to listen to and to work out to.

 _Let's make this interesting._

I turn my back to Luke, but get close to him and start to grind on him, moving my hips against his lower half. Soon I hear him let out a groan. He puts his arm around stomach and kisses my neck.

"Baby, you should stop dancing like that or else we will have a sticky situation." He says in a low, husky tone.

I continue to do what I was doing and Luke was definitely enjoying it. Lucky for the both of us, Christian had already left the reception with Ana. Luke didn't have to be his stoic self anymore and I can let lose a little with my man without getting a weird look from my brother.

* * *

The wedding reception lasts until sunset. By that time, everything from both the wedding reception and the ceremony had been removed off the premises of the beach.

"Im happy for Elliot. He's finally found himself the woman of his dreams." I say to Luke. We are walking on the beach, hand in hand, admiring the sunset.

"I thought we would never see the day." Luke says. " I remember how agitated Christian would get when Elliot invited him to a stripclub or to go clubbing. He didn't like seeing his brother like this, but he knew deep down inside of him that he will change eventually when the moment is right."

I don't say anything to that because it is true. It pained my mother to see Elliot with different women all the time. He was successful, but at the same time, he wasn't happy, just like Christian. Thankfully, they both managed to find themselves their soul mates and happiness has been brought into their lives.

" I think fate brought them together." I say.

"I think so too." Luke says.

He stops walking all of a sudden. He turns to me and cups my face into his hands.

" I think fate brought us together." He says.

Now that I think about it, I think he is right. I wasn't meant to be with Ethan. Luke has been there since day one. On our first date, Luke told me that he had liked me from the moment he saw me, but he couldn't do anything since I was drooling over Ethan at the time. Maybe it was fate, after all.

"You're right." I say. He kisses the tip of my nose and we carry on our walk on the beach.

 **Sawyer's POV**

Today was a huge milestone for me and Mia. We both confessed our love for each other. _And what a relief that is!_

I waited a while to tell her that I love her. I wanted to tell her at the perfect moment and I did; _I feel really giddy right now! I just want to shout out for the world to hear that I am in love with Mia Grey and she loves me back!_

We continue walking down the sandy shoreline of the beach, hand in hand, talking about today's main event: the wedding. I've been to a few weddings in my life, but they were nothing compared to Elliot's wedding. Sure they did not invite everybody they know and they didn't have anybody famous perform the newlywed's first dance, but it was still quite different from the rest. _I just can't put my finger on it._

I've been working long enough for Christian Grey to say that he is nothing how the tabloids picture him. And neither is Mia. They are just like the rest of us, except with a whole lot of money. The Greys are nice people and although my job can be dangerous, I wouldn't trade it for the world. For one thing, it pays well, there are good benefits, and most importantly I met the love of my life while working for her brother.

The sunset was long gone and now stars are appearing in the night sky.

" I don't want this day to end, but I have to call it a night." Mia says, in a sad tone. " I have to cater at a senior center tomorrow."

" I understand, Mia. It is getting a little late." I say to her.

Putting my arm around her, we walk up the sand away from the water.

I pull up to the Grey Manor, not wanting to let Mia go.

"I had a great time with you today." Mia says.

" I always have a good time with you." I tell her.

She giggles and is about to leave the SUV when I say.

" Move in with me, Mia."

She looks at me for a little bit.

" Come one, its not a bad idea. Every time a date ends we always go our separate ways and I don't like that. I want you to come live with me."I say.

" It's a good idea, but I need to think about it." She says, looking down at her manicure.

 _Think about it? What is there to think about? I love you and you love me. We love spending time with one another. We hate leaving each other once a date ends. I think it's a great idea._

"What do you need to think about, babe?" I ask her. "I am fine with you needing to think about it but at the same time I don't see what exactly needs thought."

" Luke, I would love to move in with you, but the last time I moved in with someone, it didn't go so well." She said.

 _Does she think that I will cheat on her? Sorry darling, but I am no Ethan._

"I know, love, but I can assure you that I will never cheat on you. I can never do that to you because you are so special to me." I say to her, taking her hand into mine.

" Im not saying that you would do that to me. You're not like that." She says. She leans in and kisses me on the lips.

"So is that a yes?"I say, jokingly.

"Are you not gonna let me out of the car until I say yes?" She says, laughing.

"I thought about it, but I respect your wishes. You can think about it and get back to me with your answer." I say.

She kisses me one last time.

"Goodnight babe." She says .

"Bye love." I answer back.


	23. Chapter 23

**Kate's POV**

I am back home from my two week honeymoon to Paris.

Paris is beautiful. There is no place like it. I would love to go back there one day.

The two week honeymoon was blissful. Elliot is an incredible guy. He is perfect in every way. I am so glad that I am his wife and he is my husband. I can't wait to start a family with him. By the amounts of sex that we had during our honeymoon, I should be pregnant by now.

* * *

It is very hard to come back to work right after you come back from vacation. I would do anything to get back to Paris. I came back to a big stack of papers on my desk. The boss wants me to cover some stories which are all do by the end of this week. And what sucks is, they are boring! They are all about politics. But I guess a girl's gotta do what she has to, even if it is a boring news story about the Republican campaign trail. I like what I do. I like being a journalist, but sometimes the stories that I have to cover are not to my liking at all.

"Ms. Kavanaugh, you have a phone call." My personal assistant Barbara tells me.

"Barbara, its Mrs. Grey now and can you please tell me who is calling." I ask her.

"It's your brother, Ethan." She says.

Ever since he cheated on Mia, Ethan has been on the Grey family shit list. They don't want to hear about him nor see him. Ethan left to Europe for a month with his girlfriend Mary. He was disappointed to hear that he wasn't invited to the wedding, but he understood why.

" Okay, you can transfer the call over to me." I tell her. I had time to speak with him, but I honestly don't know why he wants to talk to me.

* * *

" Hey sis." Ethan says. "How was your honeymoon?"

"It was great. We went to Paris for two weeks." I tell him. "How are you doing?"

"Im okay. I just came back to the states yesterday with Mary." He tells me. "And I was wondering if you would like to meet me for lunch, so we can catch up on things."

"Sure, I will have lunch at 12 today. We can meet up at the sandwich shop right by the building where I work."I tell him.

"Okay, sounds like a plan." He says.

And on that note, the conversation was over.

I was to go live on air, in 5 minutes, for the first time by the name of Katherine Grey.

* * *

"Can I get a tomato basil mozzarella Panini please?" I tell the lady behind the counter at the sandwich shop. Its lunchtime and I am starving. I heard a lot about this place, mostly from Mia.

I pay for lunch and sit in a table next to the window.

A few minutes later, my brother steps into the café and walks up to the counter to order his lunch. He orders a simple grilled cheese and walks on over to where I am.

"Have you ever been to this place?" He asks me.

" No, but I heard about it." I tell him.

And then the conversation dies. Why is Ethan silent? Why did he invite me to go out for lunch if he is just sitting across from me in silence?

We get our food moments later. We sit there in silence, devouring our food. My panini is delicious. I need to make a mental note to thank Mia about this place.

"So why are you back in the States?" I ask my brother.

" Europe is great and all, but I miss being back home." He says, finally speaking.

I take one last bite of the panini.

"How is Mary?" I ask him.

"We broke up." He said.

"When did this happen?" I ask him.

" A couple of days before I came back." He said. "She fell hard for some guy she met at a coffee shop in London. She said that although the sex is good, she wants to settle down eventually."

"So she cheated on you?" I ask him.

"Yes." He says.

 _Well now you know how it feels like? Now you know how heartbroken Mia was when she found out that you cheated on her._

I open the Perrier that I bought a long with my sandwich and take a sip.

" So what are you going to do now?" I ask him.

" Im going to go job searching online." He says.

"Well good luck trying to find a job when you got fired from Grey Constructions." I tell him. There was no way that he was going to land himself a job after he got fired from Elliot's company. If you get fired by the best, who says you will get hired anywhere else?

"Its worth a try." He says.

I say nothing to that.

"How is everybody?" He asks.

" Everybody is good. "I tell him.

"Still mad at me?" He asks.

" Yes, Ethan. And they will be mad at you after what you did. You chose to cheat on the wrong girl." I tell him.

"Its not like I wanted to. I was drunk that night; I wasn't thinking at all." He said.

"Clearly, you weren't thinking. You had the perfect girlfriend who simply adored you and now you are left with nothing, but solitude." I tell him. "And you think they would forget about what you did. Its gonna take a while for the Greys to forget about that. "

" Kate, I deeply regret what I did. I failed to see that what I had in front of me was special. I was stupid." Ethan says.

"Damn right you were stupid." I tell him.

" I still love Mia." He says. "I just wish she knew."

" She doesn't want to hear about you or see you. Her heart is not broken anymore because she found someone who completes her. Something that you didn't do. " I say.

" I wish I was that guy." He says.

"Ethan, move on! Face it, you ruined your chance with her. There is no way you can fix things now because it cannot be fixed." I tell him. "If you want to be in one piece, I suggest you stay away from the Grey family."

"So who's the guy she is with now?" He asks her.

" She is with Sawyer now." I tell him. "And she cannot be happier. "

"Lucky bastard." Ethan mutters under his breath.

I look at my watch. Soon I will have to head back to work to cover yet another story about politics.

" I have to get going." I tell him.

" Am I really that boring?" Ethan asks me. " You can't spend another minute with your big brother."

" Ethan, you are my only brother. Im sorry, but I have to get back to work." I tell him. "Some of us do have a job you know."

Ethan doesn't say anything for a moment.

" Kate, I want to ask you something." He says. "I know you are going to say no, but I am going to ask anyway. Can you please tell Mia that I am sorry?"

I look at him for a minute. We spent a good amount of lunch in silence and he chooses to ask me that question now, knowing that I will probably say no to it.

"Ethan, we spent lunch in silence and you choose to ask me that question now, when you are aware that my answer to it will be no." I say to him.

"Just wanted to ask anyway." He says.

"You do realize that if I tell Mia that once I mention your name, she is probably going to not want to hear the rest of what I want to tell her. Sure, she has moved on ,but a girl does not simply forget how her boyfriend cheated on her. She may have forgiven you in her heart, but I am sure that she gets a replay of it every now and then." I tell him.

"Forget I even asked." He said.

"Of all the things that you chose to talk to me about you chose the topic of Mia. You haven't seen me in a really long time. You could have asked how the wedding went or how was Paris, but you are still hung up on that one subject. Face it, you ruined your chances with Mia Grey and now you think she is going to receive you with open arms? " I say to Ethan.

"People do change." He says.

"I know they do, but if you have changed you would just let it go. " I tell him. I look at my watch again. I only have 5 minutes left until my lunch is over.

"I really need to head back to work now." I tell him. Before leaving him, I say." Please Ethan, don't even think about contacting Mia. She is very happy with her new boyfriend and in all honesty she doesn't even want to see you ever again."

"Understood, sis." Ethan says.

I briskly walk out there and head straight to the building where I work.

I really do hope that Ethan listens to me and doesn't try to talk to Mia. _I am sure that Sawyer will beat his ass if he ever comes near Mia._

 **Sorry that it took too long to update this story. I had a little bit of a writer's block. I had so many ideas, but when I got them out on Word, they didn't seem that interesting.**

 **I don't want to jump into Christian and Ana's wedding just yet, but I can assure you that you won't have to wait long.**

 **Please Review! :)**


	24. Chapter 24

**6 months later**

 **Ana's POV**

"Kate, I know that you are my best friend and all, but can you please be honest with me?" I ask Kate.

"Steele, I told you for the 100th time that you look amazing!" Kate says.

We are in her mother's wedding boutique and I am currently trying on wedding dresses. Its now my turn to walk down the aisle and I cannot contain my excitement. I've tried on a few dresses but I didn't like any of them. Sure they were beautiful, but I don't see myself walking down the aisle in them.

"This isn't the one, Kate." I say as I get out of the dress.

Kate just nods her head and checks the messages on her phone. She is most likely tired of persuading me why each dress that I have tried on looks great on me and why it's the one that I should wear.

I go back the rack with the dresses that Leslie had chosen for me and look through the dresses one more time. I was about to give up, but then I came across a dress. It was in the style that I like: simple but elegant. It had lacy sleeves and neckline. The rest of the dress was simple.

I took it into the dressing room and with a little help of one of the attendants that work there, I was in the dress. I stepped in front of the mirror and could not believe my eyes. The dress was amazing and it looked great on me. _This is the one!_

I turned to Kate who looked speechless.

"I love this one more than the others." Kate said. "You will be a beautiful bride."

I hug my best friend and wipe the happy tears that flow down my face. I will be married in a week to the love of my life.

* * *

I change out of the dress and meet up with Kate. We decide to go to the nearest coffee shop and grab some coffee.

"Ana, I cannot say it enough. You will be the prettiest bride and the best wife to Christian Grey." Kate tells me. She ordered herself a chai latte with an orange cranberry scone, while I opted for my usual tea with a blueberry muffin.

I simply smile. I really hope that I can be the best wife to Christian Grey. Out of all the women that he has been with, he chose me to be his wife and my duty now is to show everyone that I am not with him because of the money. It still hurts to hear that the gossip rags believe that I am only with him because of his money and that once the baby is born I will divorce him and take all of his money away. _Sorry to break it to you, I am actually in love with the guy._

We talk about the wedding and the honeymoon. Christian is keeping the destination a secret which is annoying me. _Why can't he tell me where we are going?_

Everything is going well until Kate turns pale in the face and suddenly runs to the restroom.

She comes back a few minutes later.

"Kate, are you alright?" I ask her.

" I don't know, Ana. Today I woke up and I threw up for no reason. And then for some odd reason, my boobs feel a little on the tender side. It's a weird feeling altogether." Kate explains to me.

I look at her. Everything she has told me seems to lead to only one thing: she is pregnant.

"I think you might be pregnant." I say to her.

"Oh, I don't know. I doubt it though, its most likely the food that I had for dinner last night." She says.

" Quit denying it, Kate. Your boobs wouldn't feel weird if you had bad food last night. Face it, you are pregnant." I tell her.

"I bought a pregnancy test before I came to the wedding boutique because I also believe that there is a chance that I am pregnant, but I don't know. What if I am? What if turn out to be a bad mother? " Kate says to me.

"Kate, just use the test and if you are then its no big deal. You're married and its time that you started a family with Elliot. You will make a great mother and Elliot will make a great father, should you be pregnant." I explain to her.

Kate sighs. After we finish our food, Kate and I head to the ladies room. Kate decides not to wait until she gets home to take the pregnancy test.

I set the phone on the designated time and we wait for the timer to go off. Kate paces the room while we wait.

"God, this is so nerve racking." She says.

"It is what it is, Kate." I tell her, reassuringly.

She doesn't say anything and continues to pace the room.

The alarm on my phone goes off 5 minutes later.

Kate rushes to my side to look at the results of the pregnancy test.

"What do the two blue lines mean?" She asks me.

I look at the instructions on the box.

"Kate, they mean that the test is positive." I tell her. "You're pregnant."

Kate just stares at the pregnancy test. She doesn't utter a word. I put my arm around her shoulder.

"That's a good thing. You should be happy." I tell her.

"I know it is, but not for me. Im not mother material." She says.

"Stop saying that, Kate. I know that you will be a great mother. Sure you think that now, but when you have the child you will think differently."I tell her.

Kate doesn't say anything. We both leave the café and head our separate ways. I made a mental note to call her later on today to see how she feeling.

 **Christian's POV**

I was sitting in my office minding my own business when Andrea lets me know that my brother is here to see me and that he won't stop annoying Andrea until he does.

"Send him in." I say through the intercom.

Within seconds, Elliot is in my office looking rather rough around the edges. By the look on his face, I can tell that something is up.

"Elliot, how many times do I have to tell you not to annoy Andrea?" I ask him.

"I know that, bro and I am sorry, but I have something urgent that I need to talk to you about." He tells me, sitting down in the chair in front of my desk.

"Look, if you are experiencing some marital problems then I am not the person that you should speak to." I tell him.

"We are not experiencing marital problems, or at least not that I know of." He says.

"Then what is it?" I ask him. _This has to be good because he's kinda wasting my time here. I love him and all but he needs to remember that I have a company to run here._

"Its Kate." He says. "Something is up."

"Well, did you ask her if something is wrong?" I ask him.

"I did and she says that everything is fine, but I know its not. She's been moody for the past two days. " He says.

"I think you should talk to her about it, not let her out of the room until she tells you what exactly is going on." I tell him.

"Knowing Kate it will be hard to get something out of her. But I'm telling you something is up. I was leaving for work today and I wrapped my arms around her waist and was going to give her a kiss when she shimmied from my grasp and told me not to touch her." Elliot tells me.

"She could be PMSing." I suggest.

"I've been with Kate long enough to know when her periods are and I can tell you that she missed hers this month which can only mean one thing…" He says, trying to hide a smile.

 _Well it's about time that they start a family!_

"Well if it's that then everything makes sense. Kate is obviously worried about how you will react to the news. That's the reason she is acting strange." I explain to my brother.

Elliot has relaxed a bit.

"Yeah that makes sense. I was going to ask her about it in the morning but she didn't want to talk to me let alone look at me. When I get home tonight, I will certainly confront her about it, although I think that she will tell me eventually." He says. By the looks of it, Elliot cannot wait to hear the news straight out of his wife's mouth.

"Are you excited, Christian?" He asks me, changing the subject.

"I am very excited." I tell him. My wedding is next week and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't counting down to it.

If someone was to tell me at the beginning of last year that I was going to be married at this point, I would have laughed. Sure I did contemplate on the subject of marriage, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. I am glad that it is because I am madly in love with Ana and there is no other person that I would rather spend the rest of my life with.

"I know, bro. I can see it in your eyes." Elliot says. "Your whole face lights up when someone mentions the wedding or Ana or both."

I smile.

" What can I say? Im a happy man." I tell him.

Andrea lets me know that my meeting will begin in 5 minutes.

"Alright Christian, I will let you know whats going on with Kate after I talk to her although I believe that I wont have to because Ana might let you know before I do." He says.

I nod my head. Elliot leaves my office and I quickly gather up the spreadsheets on my desk and head into the conference room.

 **Kate's POV**

I came home and threw up a few more times. _Ugh, so gross!_

After changing into a pair of sweats and a baggy t-shirt, I plop myself on the couch and watch some tv.

I texted Ana and let her know that everything is okay. _Yes, that's a lie, but I wouldn't want her to worry. She has a lot on her plate right now that she has to worry about._

Since there is nothing on tv, I make myself comfortable on the couch and take a nap.

* * *

Im worried. I look up at the clock in the living room and see that Elliot is supposed to be here any minute now. _What if he doesn't want the baby? What if he isn't happy?_

I hear keys opening the front door and in walks Elliot.

He walks over to me and kisses me on the forehead.

"How are you, baby? "He asks me.

"Im alright." I tell him.

He looks into my eyes for a second and then sits on the sofa seat next to me.

"Kate, I have noticed for the past two days that something is up. You won't let me hug you and there are times when you get mad at me for no reason what so ever. You have told me that everything is okay,but as your husband I know that something is up. Whatever it is, please tell me. I won't be mad." He says, his blue eyes screaming worry at me.

 _Well if I don't tell him now, then I will have to tell him eventually._

I take a deep breath.

" I've been feeling bad lately. I would throw up in the mornings and have constant, random cravings of food. Today, I bought a pregnancy test before helping Ana look for a wedding dress. Ana noticed that something is up and she was eager for me to take the test. The test turned out to be positive." I explained to him.

Elliot looks at me.

"So does this mean that we are.."He asks.

"Yes, Im pregnant." I tell him.

Elliot pulls me into an embrace and kisses me.

"Baby, that's such great news!" He exclaims.

"So you're not mad?" I ask him.

"Why would I be mad?" He asks me.

"That this all happened a little too soon." I answer him.

"I don't care about that. It was meant to happen. We are married and it was time for us to plan a family." Elliot says. "You do not know how happy I am right now. I have always wanted to be a father."

"You're going to be a great father."I tell him with a smile.

"And you, my love, will be a great mom." He says, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

We decide to order some Chinese food because I didn't feel like going out.

It was a relief to know that Elliot is happy with the baby news. I was hoping for the worst, but I am glad that everything turned out okay. _Because there is no way in hell that I am not keeping this baby!_

We are going to announce it to everyone very soon. I cannot wait to tell everyone that we are close to that we are expecting our first child.

 **Please review!**


	25. Author's Note

Hey fellow readers,

Sorry for the hold up on the update for this story. Alot has been happening in my life, leaving me with no time to update this story. But, I promise you that I will not forget about this story. Starting next year, I will make it my goal to continue this story (and my other one).

Have a great holiday season. See you next year!

with love,

avp78282


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Sorry for the hold up. I've been through a lot since the last time I updated this story. I had different ideas as to how to go about writing what comes next. This is what I have come up with. I hope you enjoy!

 **Ana's POV:**

I couldn't sleep at all last night. My mind is just full of excitement and anticipation for today. Today, is when I marry the love of my life, Christian Trevelyan Grey. I spent countless hours thinking about how it will all come together, wondering how it will be like. To my disappointment, I couldn't quite imagine how it will all come together, but I remember feeling very happy. _The happiest I have ever been in my life._

My thoughts are put on hold, when I hear a knock on my door.

"Who is it?" I ask.

"Its Mia."

"Okay, come in." I say.

Mia opens the door and skips to me, pulling me into a bear hug.

"Ana, today is the day. Oh my God, I bet your so excited!" She says, clearly just as excited as I am.

"Yes, Mia, I am very excited." I say with a smile.

Mia smiles back at me.

"Well we better get going, we have a big day ahead of us." She says.

"Alright, I will be down in a few minutes." I say. Mia leaves the room, while I go to do my morning routine.

Mia insisted that I spend the night before my wedding at the Grey house because of tradition. As much as I resented it _and Christian did the same_ , I agreed to do it, knowing how much this means to Mia. She was worried for her brother and his personal life. She knew how much GEH meant to him, but at the same time, it took a toll on his personal life, that had remained a secret to her, the family, and to everyone else in the country. Now that he was to be married, Mia wants perfection. _I just want to marry the man already._

"Good morning, sleepy head." Kate says as I walk into the kitchen. Gretchen, the Grey's housekeeper, has already prepared breakfast and I must say it is enough to feed an army. Everything looks delicious to the point where I just take any seat at and dig in.

"Morning." I say to Kate and give her a hug. Kate is 4 months along in her pregnancy. Everytime I see her she has that beautiful glow that pregnant women have and she's always eating something.

"Today is the big day, Steele." She says.

"I know."I say with a smile.

" Im really happy for you, Steele. " Kate says. "You truly deserve it all."

"Thanks." I say. After I finish eating, I give her yet another hug. This time, Kate is sniffling. _Did I mention she cries a lot now that she is pregnant?_

"Don't forget to name your daughter Kate." She says. I laugh and leave the kitchen.

 **Christian's POV**

"Bro, wake up." I hear and feel Elliot nudging me.

"Elliot, just give me five minutes." I say in a murmur.

"You said that five minutes ago." Elliot says. "I can't give you any more time to sleep.

Don't get me wrong, I am really excited for today. I can't wait to marry the love of my life, but I couldn't sleep last night because of some outdated tradition that keeps me away from Ana.

With a groan, I get out of bed.

"Look, Im up." I gesture and say to my brother.

"Good." He says. "Now do what you gotta do and head down downstairs so we can get this show on the road."

"Im on it." I say as I head into the bathroom for a nice, cold shower.

* * *

 _Thank God for coffee,_ I think as I take a long sip of coffee.

Im sitting in the kitchen of Elliot's apartment, with Sawyer to my right.

"Im guessing last night was brutal." Sawyer says.

" Indeed it was." I say. " I seriously don't understand who made this stupid tradition, but I don't like it at all."

Sawyer laughs.

" Mr. Grey, some would say that about marriage as well." He says.

He brings up a valid point. Marriage to me was a foreign subject. Before I met Ana, I didn't give it any thought. I knew that it had a possibility of happening, but sometime in the distant future. Now here I am on my wedding day, completely in love with Ana.

"You are right." I tell him.

Elliot walks into the kitchen.

"Chop, chop. Lets finish up breakfast so we can get this day moving a lot quicker than it is." He says.

For a guy that has the laid back approach on life, Elliot is sure on top of things today.

I finish drinking my coffee and meet Elliot along with Sawyer and Taylor in the living room.

 **1pm (Ana's POV)**

What started off as a nice sunny day, turned into a cloudy day. Im in the guest bedroom of the Grey's house, when Mia rushes into the room.

"It started to rain." Mia says, the expression on her face screamed panic.

 _Ugh,rain. Why now?_

"Its okay, Mia." I say to her, trying to make it seem like Im calm. "Im sure that it won't do much, probably just a sprinkle."

"The seats are getting wet. The wedding guests are going to be sitting on wet seats." She says, now getting more flustered than when she first came into the room.

 _Oh that's not good._

"Mia, don't panic." said a voice.

I look up to see Grace.

"Everything is fine, girls. We are going to put up tents to keep the rain out." She said.

Mia let out a sigh of relief. I silently thanked God.

"Ana, Leslie just called and said that she will be here in a few hours with the dresses." Grace said.

 _In just a few hours, I will be Mrs. Grey._

 **Christian's POV**

Taylor drove us all the way to my parent's house. I was told that even there I would not be able to see Ana, until the actual ceremony. _Again, who thought of this?_

Apparently everyone around me is a stickler for tradition because I could have sworn that I heard Elliot remind me about this for the millionth time.

"Elliot, I heard you the first time." I say to him as we walk into the house.

Im immediately surrounded by Mia who is very happy and excited as usual. I let her have a moment with Sawyer; I walk to the back of the house to see how everything looks like.

Because of the weather, there are now tents over the seating for the guests and everywhere else where people will be.

"Isn't it great?" asks Mia. I look over to my right and see my sister standing next to me.

"Yes its lovely." I answer. It was lovely despite the tents. Everything was in the color scheme of the wedding which is grey and lavender.

Mia gives me a side hug and is about to leave when I stop her.

"Give this to Ana, since I cannot give it to her myself." I say. I pull out a red rectangular Cartier box out of my pocket.

Mia squealed.

" Im sure she will be delighted." She says, and then leaves.

I look at my watch; its 1pm. In 4 hours, I will be a married man.

 **Mia's POV (3pm)**

There's only two hours left before the wedding. Leslie has just arrived with the dresses and the shoes.

"Here you are, ladies." She says as she puts them down on the bed in the guest bedroom where Ana is.

The bridesmaid dresses are not the same. Ana wanted all of us to have dresses that expressed our individuality. Yes, they are all lavender, but they are all styled differently. Mine has a sweetheart neckline, Kate has an off the shoulder dress, and Olivia's is a halter top type of dress. Ana's dress has lacy sleeves and neckline. I have yet to see it, but according to Kate, it looks amazing on Ana.

Leslie hands out the dresses which are in garment bags with our names on them. Her assistant Franco gives out our shoes.

It is then when all of us realize there is a problem.

"How is it possible?" Franco said. "I could have sworn on Donatella Versace that I packed your shoes, Ms. Steele."

Franco frantically looks around the room, probably thinking he lost the shoebox somewhere in this room.

 _Ugh quite pretending, Franco, find the damn shoes!_

"Franco, check the car." Leslie ordered her assistant.

And with that Franco leaves the room.

"Sorry Ana, Im sure they are in the car." Leslie says reassuringly although her green eyes looked panicked.

"It's okay. Accidents happen." Ana says.

 _Well props to you, Ana, for not freaking out over such a little thing._ Looking at Ana, I realize that to her this isn't a big deal. She's got a lot on her plate right now. This is her big day and she obviously won't let such a little thing ruin her mood.

"Oh, I almost forgot." I say. I take out what Christian had given me. "This is for you, Ana."

Ana takes the red rectangular box from my hand. She carefully opens it to find a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet.

She smiles and puts it on her wrist. It's a perfect fit.

"It's beautiful, Ana." says Kate. She takes Ana's wrist to admire the bracelet up close.

Not before long, Ana takes out her purse from the nightstand and gives me a small black box.

"Since Im not allowed to see Christian before the wedding, can you please give this to him?" Ana asks.

"Of course." I say with a smile. I take the small box out of her hand and walk out the door of the bedroom.

* * *

The guys were on the other side of the house, packed in Elliot's room. As I walk in, I see Elliot holding two bowties in his hands.

"Which one do you like?" He asks Luke.

Luke looks at both of them, clearly puzzled.

"Elliot, the one in your right hand will look great with your tux." I say.

Elliot turns around and smiles.

"Well thank you, sis. Sawyer was obviously the wrong person to ask." He says.

Sawyer laughs. "Sorry, not into fashion."

"Where is Christian?" I ask Luke.

"He stepped out to make a quick phone call. Why? Is everything okay with Ana?" Sawyer asks, looking concerned.

"No sweetie, Ana just gave me something to give him." I say.

"Give what to me?" I hear a voice not far from me.

I turn to see my brother Christian.

"Ah, just the person I have been looking for." I say and hand him the black box.

Christian's eyes light up like a Christmas tree, and within seconds he has opened the black box.

Inside the black box are cuff links, but not just any cufflinks. They have the initials of Ana and Christian etched into them.

"I love them." Christian says. " Ana never ceases to amaze me."

He looks up at me. "How is she doing?"

"She is doing very well. Maybe a little stressed out because Franco , Leslie's assistant, forgot her shoes, but that certainly can be fixed and Im sure that everything will be alright." I tell him.

"If I was Leslie, I would fire that guy. So unprofessional." Christian says.

"Christian, its hardly anything. Ana shrugged it off as nothing, so you shouldn't worry about such a little thing." I tell him.

"I just want everything to be perfect." He says.

"And it will be." I say with a smile.

Christian smiles. "I know."

 **The Wedding (Ana's POV)**

This is it. My dress is on. My shoes (which have been found, thankfully) are on my feet. I holding a beautiful white rose arrangement that is tied in a with a lavender silk bow.

Im standing in the living room of Christian's parents' house, surrounded by my bridesmaid and Christian's groomsmen.

"Doesn't she look stunning?" Kate says to Elliot, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

"Yes she does, sweetheart." Elliot says. "But you, my dear, look stunning as ever."

"Oh quite the charmer, Elliot." Kate says.

At that moment, Taylor walks in and tells us that its time.

 _It's time to get this show on the road._

Unfortunately, my father could not make it to the wedding. Two days before my wedding, I received a call from the hospital. My father had cardiac arrest. He is slowly getting better, but the doctor would not let him go to my wedding, even though my father begged and pleaded. He called beforehand to tell me that he wishes that he could walk me down the aisle and that he wants pictures from the wedding.

When Christian found out about this, he was distraught, but came up with a brilliant idea. And so now, I would be walking down the aisle with Taylor. And Taylor was more than happy to do the job.

 **Christian's POV**

When I see my brother walking down the aisle, I realize that soon I will get to see Ana.

The music changes.

Everyone turns their heads back.

And that is when I see her.

Ana is walking down the aisle with Taylor. When our eyes meet, she smiles and blushes. _She knows that she is the most beautiful woman in the world._

"She's quite something, isn't she?" Elliot whispers into my ear.

Im truly at loss for word at the moment that I can only nod my head in response.

Ana is now right in front of me, her beautiful blue eyes looking at my grey ones.

Reverend Jacobs beings to speak. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here tonight to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. If anyone objects this union, speak now or forever hold your peace."

No one said anything. _Thank God._

The Reverend continues, but I don't know exactly what he is talking about because Im looking at the beautiful woman before me. I feel like the luckiest man in the world right now, and it feels great.

I guess I was so glued to those beautiful blue eyes right in front of me that when it came to the vows part, Elliot had to let me know.

Taylor's daughter Sophie stood to my left and held a pillow with two rings.

"Put the ring on Ana's finger and say "I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love.""

I repeat what the Reverend told me to say and with shaky hands put the ring on Ana's ring finger.

Ana does the same. _How I long for her touch…_

"And by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Reverend Jacobs says, and looks at me "You may now kiss the bride."

 _Don't have to tell me twice!_

I take her beautiful face into my hands and kiss her like my life depends on it, _and because its been a while since I got to kiss he, at least to me it feels like a while._ I don't care who is watching.

Everybody cheers as we walk down the aisle, hand in hand, as husband and wife.

 **Please review!**


	27. Chapter 27

**5 months later…..**

 **Kate's Babyshower**

 **Ana's POV**

"Thank you for all your presents, Kate and I really appreciate them." Elliot said as he raised his champagne flute while giving his toast.

Everybody clapped and saluted to the happy parents to be.

A few months ago, Kate and Elliot found out the gender of their baby and it was going to be a boy. Both Elliot and Kate were overjoyed for they did not care who the baby was, they will love him with all of their hearts.

I lightly clapped my hands along with everyone else and smiled as Elliot gave Kate a kiss on the cheek. What a long way have we come. None of us would have imagined being at this point: married and in a state of pure bliss.

I love married life. I wake up every morning with a handsome man by my side, that loves me unconditionally. He showers me with love _and presents, although he knows that he doesn't really have to do all that._ It's been 5 months since we were married, but it feels like all of that happened yesterday.

There is no rush to start a family although we both want a family. During our honeymoon in England, _which was simply blissful by the way,_ we had discussed what we want in terms of our future and have decided to take the next step: moving into a house. Ever since we came back from our honeymoon, Christian has been contacting real estate agents, looking at properties, but we have yet to find the one. Christian's patience is on edge and last night, he decided that he's going to have Elliot build it. Apparently, Elliot has seen some locations where he is for certain that we will like. Christian likes this better for we can have it customized to our liking.

I must have been lost in my thoughts for I didn't realize Kate was standing right next to me.

"What are you thinking about, Ana?" Kate asks me, her right hand rests on her pregnant belly, while her other hand has a flute with apple cider in it.

"Just how our lives have changed." I say with a smile.

"Oh I think about that too." Kate says. "I could never have imagined being so happy like I am right now." Tears started streaming down her face. Kate grabs a nearby tissue box. "Sorry, its these damn hormones."

"It's okay, Kate." I say, giggling.

"I was actually just heading to the kitchen to see if there are any of those tasty chocolate macaroons left. "She says. "Do you need anything?"

"No, Im fine." I say. Kate disappears into the kitchen. A month after their honeymoon, Kate and Elliot moved into a house, not far from my in laws. It needed some fixing, which wasn't a problem for Elliot's team. They were finished working in a matter of only a month.

Kate walks into the kitchen.

I mingle with the others at the baby shower. Soon I was enveloped with a hug from the back and a squeal. _That could only be one person…Mia._

I turn around and give the girl a proper hug. It's been a few months since I saw Mia. From what I've been hearing, she's been doing great. Her catering business has blossomed into a huge success. She isn't just catering events on a small scale; she's been catering events to the celebrities! And she did all of that without help from Christian or any other Grey.

Mia was in England for two months, teaching at a culinary school in London. One of Grace's registered nurses has a sister who is the one in charge at the school. She came to our wedding and was in awe of how delicious the food was. She invited Mia to teach a few classes at her school. Mia was overjoyed. From what I hear, it was a great experience for her and she is willing to do it again.

"Ana, I haven't seen you in what feels like ages." Mia says, in an excited manner.

"Yes, I know. I missed you." I say.

"I missed you and everyone else." She says. "We need to get together and do something."

"That would be great. "I tell her with a smile. "How's everything with you?"

"Wonderful, Ana." She says. "Im truly in a good place right now." She clasps her hands together and smiles.

"What about in your personal life?" I ask her. Mia smiles bigger and I can literally see stars in her eyes. Gone was the dark time in her life where she was heartbroken. Luke Sawyer managed to pick up the pieces and restore that smile back on her face.

"Amazing. I couldn't be happier." She says. "I think the two months Luke and I spent a part, it made our relationship a lot stronger."

"Im happy for you two." I say.

"I am overjoyed." She says. "So overjoyed that I decided that I will move in with the guy."

"And what brought this on?" I ask her.

"Well, Luke's been asking for a while now and I've been saying that I will think about it. When I was in London, I gave it some thought and I realized that the only reason I have been holding back was that the last time I moved in with someone that I had strong feelings for, he ended up cheating on me. This won't happen with Luke because when I look into his eyes, I see love. When I think about it, Ethan never really gave me that look. I have someone special in my life now and I think it's time to take the next step and move in with him." Mia explains.

"Mia, I have to say: I like that you are finally letting your guard down. Making this happen shows that you have finally let go of the past and can see a future with Luke. Believe me, everytime I see you two together, it seems as though you two are made for one another. And I think that your decision to move in with him, is a wonderful idea." I tell her. "What you have is special."

"Oh Ana, he is just perfect." She says, her eyes twinkling.

"And who is this perfect person?" I hear a familiar voice say behind me.

I turn and see Christian. _Speaking of perfection…._

"She's talking about her boyfriend Luke." I tell him after giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Well he better be treating you right or else he will have to deal with me." Christian says.

"Don't worry, Christian." I say. "Mia is completely happy with their relationship."

"So happy that Im moving in with him." She says, in a giddy manner.

I look at Christian, trying to read him. Usually, he's so against Mia and the men that are in her life.

 _Come on, Christian. She's happy, isn't that what you want for her?_

"Mia, you're a grown woman. Whatever your decision may be, I support it."

 _Say what?!_

I look at my husband.

"Whats with that look, Ana?" He asks. "Mia has her mind made up. Who am I to stand in her way?"

"You're usually overprotective." Mia says. "And as much as your response is slightly surprising to me, I appreciate it nonetheless." She walks up to her brother and gives him a hug before walking off to mingle with everyone else.

Christian's eyes meet mine. I raise an eyebrow.

"What Ana? Mia is in a happy place right now. She deserves everything that is coming her way." Christian says. "I for one have never seen her this, like, ever. She's been in many relationships and this is the best one yet."

"Well I'm glad that you like the fact that she is moving in with Sawyer." I tell him, wrapping my arms around his waist. "I thought you were going to say otherwise."

"I trust him with your life and he is great with Mia, so I don't see why it's a bad idea." He says, pulling me close. "Let's get out of here. I have a great idea for what I want to do to you."

"Oh really?" I ask him in seductive tone.

"Yes Mrs. Grey, I actually have a surprise for you, but I think it would be best if we take a pit stop by our place first." Christian says, kissing my neck.

"Fine by me."I say, trying not to moan out loud.

We depart Kate's babyshower and make a beeline to Escala.

 **Christian's POV**

After our heated love making session, we were back on the road. It was driving Ana crazy since she didn't know where we were going. _And because I blindfolded her before we left, so now she can't look out the window and figure out where we are headed._

"Are we there yet?" Ana asked, sounding anxious.

"Not yet." I tell her, putting my hand on her yoga pant cladded leg.

"Can I at least get a hint as to where were are going?" She asks for the thousandth time since we started driving. "You know that I don't like surprises."

"I know, love, but it's more fun this way. You're going to find out real soon what it is." I tell her in a reassuring manner. In reality it was more fun for me to hold the surprise over Ana like that. I know how much it drives her crazy when there is a surprise for her.

"Its not fun for me, Christian." She says, sounding like a child, who is clearly bored with her surroundings.

I laugh. Ana punches me in the arm.

"Hey, what was that for?" I say.

"For being mean." She says.

"Im not mean. I can assure you that you will like the surprise and you will thank me for it." I tell her.

* * *

She lets out an "ugh." and then leans back on the passenger seat.

"Okay, we are here."I say.

"Thank God."Ana says.

I walk on over to the passenger side door, and open it. Ana starts to take off her blindfold.

"Not yet."I say. "We are going to walk first."

"This better be good, Christian." She says. I take her by the arm and carefully lead her to the perfect spot.

"Alrighty, now you can take the blindfold off." I tell her.

Quickly, Ana takes off her blindfold and gasps. _Yes baby, I know._

We were on a patch of land that was surrounded by a wilderness. Not far there were mountains. It was totally peaceful and quiet, which completely contrasted the loudness and the rush of the city.

"Where are we?" She asks me.

"We are far away from Escala." I tell her. "In a place that we would soon call home."

Ana looks around in pure amazement. "So you want Elliot to build us a house here?" She asks me.

"Yes." I tell her. I didn't have to say anything. Ana came up with all of that by herself. _Like minds think alike._

"This is just so perfect." Ana says. "I honestly couldn't have imagined a better spot for our home."

"I fell in love with this space the minute I saw it." I tell her as we walk a little bit further. "The pictures that Elliot showed me were so beautiful that I thought all of this was too good to be true, until I came here myself."

Leaves rustled on the ground as we walked up to the tall trees not far from the patch of land.

"As long as these glorious trees don't get chopped off, I will be perfectly fine with having a home here." Ana says.

"They won't be." I tell her. "We would get fined if they do."

"Then, I give this my stamp of approval." Ana says and smiles.

"Perfect." I say smiling back at my beautiful wife. " I will let Elliot know about our decision. He and I will go over the blueprint, so that our house becomes the home of our dreams."

"I would love a bigger library." Ana says. "And I would like for it to have a homier feel to it."

"Alright, I will add that to the list." I say to her. "I was thinking we can have a home movie theatre and Im not sure about a pool. Maybe we can have one that is indoor."

"Oooo an indoor pool sounds great." Ana says, excitedly.

"Great. We can discuss more on the drive back." I tell her. "I got us reservations at the Mile High, so we are going to drop by Escala to change. Wear something nice."

"Okay." She says.

We link arms as we walk back to the car. I am so happy that we have found a spot for our future home. I can't wait to let Elliot know, so he can have his crew start building. _After we jot down a blueprint, of course._

As we are driving back to Escala, I turn to look at the beautiful woman beside me. I cannot imagine having someone so caring, so understand, and so incredibly gorgeous in my life. She makes me a better person. I love her to the moon and back. Ana turns and looks at me, giving me a big smile.

 _I am madly in love with this woman and she knows that very well._

 **Please review! Sorry for the holdup, I was experiencing writers block, but now Im back with an update on the story. I hope you all enjoy. :D**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N : So I decided that it would be interesting to add an Elliot POV. Hope y'all like it!**

 **Elliot's POV**

Our baby is expected to be born any day now. Kate is relaxing at home on leave from work. I have suggested to stay with her, but she insisted that she doesn't need me at home. She will let me know when it is time for me to head over to the hospital.

I still can't believe that very soon I will be a father. I cannot wait to hold my baby boy in my arms and just stare at him. I know that everyone in my family will shower him with endless love. I hope that this is not my only child with Kate, but if it is, he will be my pride and joy. _I would hope for a few more, but that's all on Kate._

In other happy news, Christian had just called me and said that my crew could start building a home for him and Ana. He showed Ana the location and she fell in love with it. I mean, who wouldn't? It's a picturesque location, practically secluded from the loud noise and bustle of Seattle. Christian said that we will discuss the details further sometime soon as he is busy with meetings at work.

Unfortunately, I was notified today, by my assistant Jay, that one of the guys in my crew was injured on the job. He will be out for a few weeks, so I will need someone to replace him for the time being.

 _Ugh the worst timing ever._ I really don't know how long the guy will be out, but if Christian wants to start the house ASAP, I have to find someone who is going to do a good job. _An excellent job for that matter._ All my guys are highly qualified and have done exquisite jobs all the time. My company wouldn't have been such a success if it wasn't for these guys.

There is a knock on my office door that brings me out of my thoughts.

"Come in." I say.

My assistant Jay walks in with a stack of papers. "Here are the resumes,sir." He says.

"We have that many applicants already?"I ask, as he puts them on my desk, right in front of me.

"Well yes, Mr. Grey. Everybody wants to work at Grey Constructions." He says. _Not sure if he is kissing my ass or he is stating the obvious… I will go with both._

"I believe you are correct, Jay." I tell him.

"Let me know if you need anything." Jay says as he leaves my office and heads up to his spot at reception.

I look through the resumes. All of these individuals are perfect for the job. The only thing I have to do is meet them in person and see if they are as brilliant as their resumes.

* * *

"Whats your greatest weakness?" I ask Victor, one of the job applicants.

I decided to start the interview process as soon as possible, that way I will have my crew together so when Christian gives me the green light we can start the construction of his home.

"I tend to take up a lot of tasks at once, which although is a strength to some, is as weakness to me." He answers.

"Why should I hire you?" I ask him.

"You should hire me because I am qualified for the job and I believe that I will be a good addition to the team, replacement for now, but maybe when the time comes, an addition." He says.

Victor is a good candidate for the job, but he is full of himself. He thinks that he will be an addition to my crew, when in reality he isn't going to get the job.

"Very well. I thank you for your time."I say giving him a handshake at the end of the interview. "You will get a call back in the next few days, if you got the job."

"I will be waiting for your call, Mr. Grey." He says.

 _Nothing to wait for man, you; you are not going to get the call anyway._

As I open the door, I hear voices at the front. I walk over and see two individuals talking in a rather loud tone of voice. I see my assistant Jay and a familiar figure.

"Look sir, you should have faxed your resume to us." Jay says, sounding annoyed. "I can't just take your resume, that would go against the company policy."

"Nothing on your website says anything about a company policy on resumes." The familiar individual says.

That voice, that demeanor. He looks so familiar. _What's that guy's name again? I know it! I just can't remember it…_

I walk in as soon as Jay was about to answer his question.

"Mr. Grey, please tell this man that I can't just take his resume like that. He needs to fax it over." Jay says.

I take the resume off the counter and look at it. This man is well qualified for the job. _Lets just hope he isn't full of himself as the other guy was._ I look up at the name and am astonished. I freeze for a second. _Please let it be that I am hallucinating right now._

I look up at the man at the other side of the counter. _Guess I wasn't hallucinating._

The man right in front of me is someone who I didn't want to see or hear about. He had caused my sister great pain. My family doesn't want anything to do with him and yet he has the nerve to show up here and demand that we take his resume.

 _You think you can just waltz on in here and think that all is forgotten? Well Ethan Kavanaugh, you are wrong._

"The position's been filled." I lie, returning the resume back to Ethan.

"But its only been 24 hours since you've posted that you are looking for someone temporarily." Ethan says. "That can't be possible."

"Everything is possible if you believe in it, ." I say to him.

"Well I don't believe it." He says, giving me back the resume.

"Then that's on you." I tell him. "There is no point in giving me a resume when I don't need it anymore."

"The position hasn't been filled, so you might need it." He says, still holding the paper up to me.

"Look Kavanaugh, I run this business. And I am well aware that we no longer have an opening since I have a candidate for the job. He was just here a few minutes ago and will be starting his job tomorrow. So you should take back your resume and go back to where you came from." I tell him, in a stern manner.

"If this is about Mia, then you should forget about it. It's in the past. " Ethan tells me.

"Its not just what happened with Mia. I fired you from your job here." I said.

"Oh come on, Elliot. People can change." He says.

" You nearly cost me a client. Steve Ignacio is a very wealthy business man and when you messed up on the blueprint of the house, he threatened to tell all of Seattle that I have such irresponsible workers. I could have lost my reputation and its only thanks to the fact that he is on really good terms with Christian that I managed to have him as a client still."

"But it worked out in the end. You still have him as a client." Ethan says, trying to convince me.

"No. I was lucky that it worked out that way. I cannot have this happen again." I tell him, and cross my arms across my chest. "If I fired you, chances are I cannot have you back here working for me."

"Im a changed person. I am different now. I cannot me held accountable for the things that I had done in the past. They are all forgetten." Ethan says to me.

"I don't understand why you are begging me to give you the job. Im not the only construction company in Seattle." I tell him.

"No one else has a job opening." He says, looking down at his feet. _Or no one wants to hire his ass._

"Well, you better keep looking." I say.

Just then the phone rings at reception.

"Grey Construction." Jay says.

Jay looks up at me.

"Certainly." He says. "I will let him know right away, miss."

He hangs up the phone.

" Mr. Grey, you are expected at the hospital. Your wife is in labor." Jay says.

"Thank you, Jay. I will leave immediately." I tell him. "If anyone calls, let them know that I am out the office and if its urgent give them my cellphone number or leave me a note on my desk, your call."

"Okay sir." Jay says.

I walk right past Ethan without saying a word to him. I have much more important things on my mind right now. I would hope he doesn't come back here. He knows he doesn't have a chance working here anymore.

 **Ana's POV**

I was in my office when I got the call that Kate was in labor. She was already on her way to the hospital thanks to her mother who agreed to stay along with her daughter, even though Kate swore up and down that she didn't need any help.

 **Kate is in labor *A** I text Christian.

 **Elliot is already on his way over there. Im in a meeting now, I will be there as soon as its over. *C** I get a quick reply from Christian.

I pack up my things and head downstairs via the elevator with Sawyer right beside me.

"Today is the big day, huh." He says to me.

"Yes. Baby wants to meet us, finally." I laugh. Its feels like it has been a while since Kate has been pregnant. All of us want to meet this bundle of joy. Especially Elliot, who's face lights up every time someone mentions that he will be a father.

I tell Sawyer to drop by to a local flower shop where we pick up tiger lilies (Kate's favorite flowers) and a balloon saying It's a Boy!

Somehow the paparazzi had found out that we were there and as I was checking out at the register, I can hear them outside just waiting to catch a glimpse of me. Sawyer suggested we take the back door in order to escape the madness happening outside of the store.

"Why are those bastards here?" Sawyer asks once we were safe inside the car.

"Im asking myself the same thing." I tell him as I look out the window. We had to take the alley out onto the main road.

Its not a new thing for me to have the paparazzi after me. I've gotten used to it. The world is really curious of what it is like to be with a man like Christian Grey. So it is no wonder that they pop up out of nowhere like this.

In about 10 minutes we make it to the hospital, where we are met with another swarm of paparazzi.

"Guess we will have to take the back yet again." Sawyer says, clearly annoyed.

* * *

Inside we were lead into the waiting room. Carrick, Grace, Christian, and Mia were already there. Their faces were full of anticipation and excitement. Hopefully soon we will all meet that precious baby that all of have been waiting for.

I took a seat next to Christian and Grace.

"How long has it been since Kate arrived to the hospital?" I ask Grace. Grace took a couple hours off from work for this momentous occasion. _She was going to be a grandma!_

Grace looked at her watch. "She arrived an hour or so ago. She has her mother and Elliot by her side." She tells me. "I hope Elliot doesn't pass out in the delivery room."

We both laugh. Men have been known to get a little queasy while watching their wives give birth; that's why some avoid being in that room. _I wonder if Christian will be in the room with me when I deliver our child…._

I look at my husband and smile. _His overprotective ass will surely be there, making sure no nurse hits on me and seeing if everything is running smoothly._

Christian turns and looks at me. He then takes my hand and kisses it.

"Im wondering how my brother is doing in there." He says, smiling.

"I think everyone is wondering the same thing. "I say, giggling. "I am sure everything is running smoothly."

"I do too." He said. I rest my head on his shoulder. In the corner of my eye, I see Mia talking to Sawyer, getting excited over her upcoming plans to move in with him. Sawyer's eyes twinkle with amusement and love as he watches his girlfriend talk excitedly about her plans.

Everybody is happy and content. _If only it will stay this way forever._

Very soon, we are called into the delivery room by one of the nurses. According to one of them who spoke with Grace, the delivery was quick and Kate did not want an Epidural, so it was also a natural birth.

"Congratulations Doctor Grey." The nurse said before leaving to go to the rooms in the west wing of the hospital.

Grace smiled and followed behind as we entered the room. It was one of the suites in the maternity ward, which was a lot bigger than a normal hospital room. As we walked in, there were a few bouquets on a nearby table along with two teddy bears, a big congratulations card, and apple cider. I added my bouquet of lilies to the table with the balloon.

When I turned to look toward the bed, I was in awe. Kate was sitting up in the hospital bed with Elliot by her side, cradling her newborn son in her arms. The room was bathed in sunlight. And everything looked as though it was in a dream.

"He is so precious."says Grace, tears of joy streaming down her face.

"That's our darling grandson, Gracie." says Carrick, putting his arm around his wife.

I just stood there and admired the whole thing unravel, I couldn't say anything, I was just spellbound. Christian put his arm around me, he seemed at loss for words as well.

"So what are you gonna name him?" asks Mia.

Kate looked up at Elliot, who nodded his head.

"Elliot and I have talked names ever since we found out that we were having a boy. And we have decided that we will go with the name Edgar." Kate says. "Edgar Alexander Grey"

Grace gasps.

"That was my grandfather's name from my mom's side of the family." Christian whispers in my ear "Elliot was really close to him and when he passed away, he was really devastated as was my mom.

 _Then it all makes sense._

Kate passes the baby to Grace. Grace takes the baby and moves off to the side to admire him with Carrick. I move to closer to Kate's bedside and give her a hug.

"Congratulations." I say, with a smile.

"Thank you, Ana." She says. Kate looks both overjoyed, but tired at the same time.

"How was the experience for you?" I ask my best friend, out of curiosity.

"Its an indescribable feeling. I was going to take the Epidural, but once I saw the needle and where its supposed to go, I decided to just do it naturally." Kate said. "It was painful, but well worth it in the end." Kate looks at Grace and Carrick as they take turns holding the baby, and tears stream down her face.

"Damn these hormones." She says, wiping them off a tissue that Elliot gave her.

Soon, Leslie Kavanaugh walks into the room.

"I apologize. I had to answer that phone call as soon as that baby was out. Im dealing with a bridezilla who changes her mind faster than the speed of light." Leslie says in an aggravated manner.

"That's understandable, Leslie." says Mia. "Every bride wants her special day to be perfect."

"That I know all too well." Leslie says. "Now where is my cute grandbaby?"

Kate gestures to Grace and Carrick who have already given the baby to Mia. Once the baby is in Mia's hands, she can't help but gush over his cuteness.

When its my turn to hold the baby, I cannot help but admire its tiny hands and feet.

"He is so precious."I say to Christian.

"Our babies will be just as cute, if not more." Christian says. The baby begins to be fussy, so I give him back to Kate.

"All of this got me thinking about our family." Christian says to me. "Maybe we should start practicing for a little Ana or a little Christian."

"I like that idea, but I thought we were going wait until our house is ready." I say to him. _Wasn't that the plan?_

" I gave Elliot the green light on it already. Im just going to discuss the blueprint with him, but other than that I don't see why we can't start practicing." He says, grabbing my ass.

"I like that idea, Mr. Grey." I tell him wrapping my arms around his waist.

"Don't even start with the Mr. Grey stuff, Ana. You know how that will end." Christian says, in a low husky voice.

"I don't know how it ends. Can you elaborate?" I ask him, flirtatiously.

"Just wait until we get to Escala." He tells me, giving me a kiss on the lips. " Im going to talk to Elliot before we head home."

"Okay."I say. Christian goes to talk to Elliot while I watch all the ladies gush over little Edgar Alexander Grey.

 **Christian's POV**

I was going to make this conversation quick so I can head on over and give my lady some loving back out our place.

Elliot was talking to dad when I walked up to them.

I didn't have to say anything; Elliot knew why I had approached him.

"Is there something wrong, Christian?" My father asks me, looking concerned.

"Not at all, I just wanted to ask Elliot something about business." I lie. _Asking my brother for business? Good one, Grey because they will totally buy that…._

My father looked confused, but nodded his head as if he understood what was going on, _kinda at least._

We went off to the side of the hospital suite.

" I know this might not be a good time, but when would you like to discuss the blueprint to the house?" I ask him.

"I would have to check my schedule little bro and check back with you on that. " He says. " I think I should be available tomorrow to discuss that, but I would have to check that will my assistant."

"That's not a problem." I say. "Just let me know soon."

Elliot looks around and takes me away from everyone in the room.

"Whats going on, Elliot?" I ask him.

"I wasn't gonna say anything, this being such a big day for all of us, but I have to tell you, just so you know." He tells me.

"What is it man, spill it!" I exclaim kinda loud but in a whisper.

" One of my guys was injured on the job and we need a replacement for the time being, so I had my assistant post that we are looking for someone temporarily. I interviewed a guy today, probably not the best guy for the job, but I am still looking." He explains to me.

"Come on, Elliot." I cut him off. "Get to the point."

" The guy leaves and then I hear noise at the front, so I walk on over there and you won't believe who I saw trying to give his resume to reception." Elliot says.

"Who was it?" I ask him, getting annoyed that Elliot is kind of stalling on the good part.

"Ethan Kavanaugh."

 **To be continued…..**


	29. Chapter 29

**Christian's POV (continued)**

I thought I was just hearing things.

"Who?" I asked Elliot again.

"Ethan Kavanaugh." Elliot answers me.

 _Then I guess I wasn't hallucinating… Now what does he want from us this time? Why does he constantly have to show up in our lives? Does he not have any place to be?_

I run my hand through my hair. "So what happened next?" I ask Elliot.

"Well, I told him that I had already found someone for the position, but the fucker had the nerve to tell me that I am lying." Elliot continues telling me what happened. "I was saved by the phone call to come here or else I would have been stuck dealing with his ass."

No other construction company in Seattle wants anything to do with Ethan. _If you were fired from the best, how do you expect to get a job elsewhere? No one will want to deal with a reject._

"Have you found anyone yet?" I ask him.

"Still looking. I did one interview today, but the guy was so full of himself. He's really confident that he will hear back from us." Elliot says. "And not to mention, he thinks that he might get a permanent job with us."

"Talk about being overconfident." I say.

"Seriously." Elliot says.

"Well keep looking." I say. "There's got to be someone out there that will be a perfect replacement."

"I sure hope so." Elliot says. "Because hiring Ethan is the very last thing I want to do."

"Good because I wouldn't want him working on my house." I tell him.

"Im sure that won't happen." Elliot says.

 **Ana's POV**

The mood clearly changed when Christian came back from talking to Elliot. Gone was his idea of going home and practicing for a baby. Something was bothering him.

"Are you hungry?" He asks as we sat down in the backseat of the suv.

"Yes." I say with a smile.

Christian gave me a kind smile, and put his arm around my shoulder, in an attempt to say that everything is okay. _Liar!_

"Taylor, please take us to The Bistro." Christian tells Taylor.

"Okay, sir." He says.

"Mia has recommended this place to me." Christian says. "She's very sure that we will like it."

Well at least someone is being honest, I thought to myself.

* * *

"Do you know what you want to order?" Christian asks me as he looks over the menu.

The Bistro is an upscale café. The tables have white linen tablecloth on them, classical music is playing in the background, while people who are dressed casually sip on their Pinot Noir and look out onto the busy streets of Seattle.

Looking at the menu, I had a difficult choice between the blue crab cakes in a tartar aioli and dynamite shrimp on a dill rice pilaf. The decision would have been an easy one, had my husband told me what was going on, but he wasn't. Christian was trying to make it seem as though everything is fine.

Christian orders some Pinot Grigio for us. As the waiter pours the wine into our glasses. I look straight into my husband's eyes. Something is definitely up because he looks at me with an expression that is tinged with thought.

He raises his glass and I do the same.

"Let's toast to our newborn baby nephew Edgar Alexander Grey." He said, trying to give a genuine smile of happiness, but all that happens is a smile.

"To Edgar Alexander Grey." I say. I take a sip of wine. "So how are you, dear husband?" I ask, putting my hand on top of his.

"Good, and you my dear wife?" He asks.

"Well, I would be good, but the thing is, my husband is keeping something from me." I say.

Christian looks at me.

"Alright, you figured me out." Christian says, running his hand through his hair. "Something is up."

"I knew it!" I exclaim a little louder than I had anticipated. "Christian, we are husband and wife. There should be no secrets between us. And in addition to that, I don't like seeing you frustrated, now please tell me what is going on."

"Elliot told me that Ethan wants to work for him again. He showed up to his work today, demanding that Elliot look at his resume. Elliot said that he had already found someone for the job, but Ethan didn't buy it. It wasn't true; Elliot is still looking and he is doing interviews, but the fact of the matter is Ethan desperately wants to work for Elliot, for whatever reason. Well, he obviously wants a job, but no one wants to give one to him. After all he was fired from Grey Constructions and if you are fired from there, you obviously won't have an easy time getting a job anywhere else." Christian explains, then takes a drink of wine. "He wants back into our lives, which is so frustrating to me. Life has been progressing terrifically without him. Mia is happy with Sawyer and Elliot has managed to replace him with another guy at work. Everything is fine the way it is, without his presence."

 _Ugh Ethan. I thought we wouldn't hear that name again, but here we are…._

"I don't think we need to worry about anything." I tell Christian. " I know that Elliot wouldn't hire him, even if it was for a temporary position. Im sure there are people out there who would like that job and are very qualified for it."

"That could be true, but I doubt that anyone is looking for something temporary. And if they are, they are confident that they will end up having that job permanently. "Christian says. "A perfect example of that would be a guy that Elliot had interviewed today. He was so overconfident that he would get the job and when he does get it, he will be given a permanent position. "

"Oh wow." I say. "But did he have a good resume?"

"I didn't ask Elliot that, but either way, his overconfidence had cost him the job." Christian tells me.

"Well I hope that Elliot finds someone." I say.

"Me too, and I hope that he doesn't have to end up hiring Ethan." Christian says.

"That would be his Plan Z." I say.

"That it would be."Christian says. He is no longer frustrated.

"See? That feels a lot better, doesn't it?" I ask him.

"Yes, it does." He says, smiling."And that is why you are mine, because you understand me better than anyone else."

He takes my hand and kisses it.

We change topics to our dream home.

Im glad that my husband is in a much better mood. I hate seeing him frustrated, I actually hate seeing anyone frustrated.

 **Ethan's POV**

"We will call you back if you get the job." James Carter of Carter Constructions tells me.

"Thank you for your time." I say, shaking his hand once again.

This whole week has been interviews on top of interviews. I really need a job. I have been out of an actual job for a while. I've been doing little construction jobs, but lately I have been wanting something permanent. But even if I don't find anything permanent, I would take it, nonetheless.

I have come to realize that if you are fired from Grey Construction, its hard to get a job in other construction companies. Although I don't say that I got fired, but boss's know when they look at your resume and see that you have been working on little projects after working with Elliot's company for some time. _Yah, yah, don't have to say anything. I know I fucked up in the worst way possible…_

Im doing my best to have a positive outlook on life, even though its not easy sometimes. I've had it all and one stupid decision cost me a beautiful girlfriend and a job, not to mention my sister. Ever since then, we have spoken less. It seems as though she chose Elliot over me. I know deep down she cares about me, but doesn't want to show it because she is now a Grey.

All I have to do now is just hope that I get this job or else I have no other choice but to do what I have been doing ever since I have come back from Europe, little construction projects that don't pay much.

I don't want to ask my parents for money. My mom would give me money, for sure. But my father is a totally different story. He would tell me to get a job. _I have been looking for one, Dad._ I have money in the bank. I have trust fund money that I can easily use, if worst comes to worse.

* * *

Im at a nearby coffeeshop, getting my usual caffeine fill for the day, when I see that guy from Elliot's work yesterday. I walk over to him, curious to see if he did in fact get the job. He was pouring half and half into his coffee, when I had approached him.

"Excuse me, sir. I saw you yesterday at Grey Constructions. "I say to him. "Do you work there?"

"I was there for an interview." He tells me. "I don't have the job yet." He put emphasis on the word yet.

"Oh okay." I say. "I was just wondering."

"Mr. Grey said I should be getting a call back soon." He said. "All I have to do now is wait for the call."

 _So Elliot lied to me…. Why am I not surprised?_

"Oh okay." I said. "Sorry to trouble you."

"No worries." The guy said. "Have a good day."

"You too." I say. The man leaves the coffee shop. I order my cup of joe and a toasted bagel with cream cheese.

 _So you wanna play that way, Elliot? Depriving me of a job because of what happened in the past? That's not ethical by any business standards. But hey, if you wanna do that, then lets do it._

 **Elliot's POV**

"Elliot, did you bring the baby carrier?" Kate asks me. She is all clear to go home now, with our baby boy.

Life will be different now that the we have a baby in our life. But it shouldn't be different by much… maybe a few sleepless nights here and there, but we will get the hang of it.

"Yes, Kate." I say.

Kate smiles. I put Edgar in his baby carrier, gently. He is wearing a cute blue onesie with a matching blue cap. He is sleeping peacefully.

 _He is simply the cutest baby I have ever seen. I can stare at him forever and be perfectly content. Im such a lucky man. I have a beautiful wife, an adorable baby boy, a family that loves me, a career that is doing, and a lovely home. Life is great._

"Babe, I really want to spend the day with you, but I have to get back to work. Im doing another interview today, but I will be back home as soon as I can." I tell Kate.

"Okay, hun." She says. "We will be waiting for you."

I smile. I give Kate a kiss on the lips and Edgar a kiss on the cheek before heading back to my car and driving back to work.

* * *

"How did it go?" Jay asks me. "Do you have a picture of the baby?"

I whip out my phone and show him my newborn baby boy.

"Oh my God, he is such a cutie." Jay says. "I guess it helps to have attractive parents."

I smile at that statement. _I can't take all the credit. I do have a very attractive wife._

"Is there anything for me, Jay?"I ask, getting straight to business. "Any important calls or what not?"

"A few phone calls, but they were just updates on the ongoing projects." Jay answers me. "Nothing too important."

"Good, I will be in my office. Just call me when the interviewee shows up." I tell him.

Im about to head into my office when Jay stops me.

"I almost forgot. This came for you." He tells me, giving me a manilla folder. "I don't know what it is; I guess that's for you to figure out."

I take the manilla folder and head into my office.

As soon as I am there, I open it. At first everything looks like gibberish to me. And then it hits me like a semi on a highway. _Ethan Kavanagh is suing me._


	30. Chapter 30

**Christian's POV**

Im in Elliot's office discussing the blueprint for the dream house, over a lunch of Chinese food.

Elliot seems a little off today; and Im not sure what it could be. Im sure he is just overwhelmed with everything: work (which now included interviews and a 50/50 chance of seeing Ethan) and home life(which now included a newborn baby).

"So tell me your ideas." Elliot said, pulling out paper and a pencil.

"Well, Ana wanted a gourmet kitchen and a library that is a little bit bigger than what we have now. She also wants a walk in closet. She wants it the same size as we have now, but I think that we should have it a little bit bigger than what we have now. She was also thinking of a pool, but she isn't sure if she wants and indoor one or an outdoor one." I tell Elliot.

"Judging by the area that surrounds the house, I think you are better off with an indoor pool. Not many homes nowadays have indoor pools, so it will be a nice touch and the sale value will go up, should you want to sell it." Elliot says to me. "Now what about you?"

"I would like an indoor gym, a car garage big enough to fit four cars, security room, maybe like a family room, but don't get the mixed up with the living room. I think the family room should be on the ground floor." I tell him, trying to think of some of the things that Im missing.

"How many bedrooms would you like?" asks Elliot.

"Four including the master bedroom." I answer. Ana and I have discussed it and we decided that we would like to have three children. Its the perfect number in my opinion.

"What about the guest bedrooms or are you planning to have a different house for that?" Elliot asks me.

"Yes, that is the plan. And we were also thinking of having a separate house for Jason and Gail." I tell him. After years of working for me, I think its time that the two of them get their own place that is much more private

"Okay." Elliot says. "So what I have so far, in my vision at least. The garage level will have the gym which will be adjacent to the garage. And not far from that will be the laundry room as well as the family room. The pool will be in between the gym and the family room. For the first floor I have the kitchen and the living room. There's gonna be a door leading on the backyard. I was thinking of doing French double doors for that door, but we can discuss the finer details later. The library will also be on that floor as well. Now for the second floor it will be all of the bedrooms, including the master suite."

"That sounds perfect, Elliot." I say. "And yes, the finer details can be discussed much later."

"Good." says Elliot. He puts the paper aside and continues eating his food.

"And don't forget to sound proof the master suite." I say.

Elliot smirks and writes that down. He goes back to eating his food.

 _Wait a second...thats it? No witty comment? Nothing?!_ This did not sound like Elliot, at all.

"Everything alright, Elliot?" I ask him.

"Yah of course." He says, finishing up his food.

"Are you sure about that?" I ask him.

He looks up at me. " Yes, I am. Why? Does it seem like something is up?" He asks.

"It actually does. You're not acting like yourself." I tell him. "You are usually the one that likes to say things, some pretty weird yet fucking hilarious things, but you aren't today."

"Oh you know, Im immersed in work and now with the baby, there's just so much going on." He tells me, running his hands across his face, making it seem as though he is tired.

I could have went along with what he was saying, but I knew that he wasn't telling the truth. The Elliot that I knew always had energy in him, even if he was super tired.

"Okay, fair enough." I say. I could try to get it out of him, but I want him to tell me without the need of using force. I discard my trash into the trash bin next to his desk.

"I should probably get going." I tell him. In theory, I could have stayed and chatted with my brother, but since he was not in the mood to talk, the best thing to do is leave.

Im about to leave Elliot's office, when Elliot tells me to wait.

I turn around.

"Im not good at keeping anything from anybody, but yes you got me figured out. Something is up." He says.

I locked the door and sat back down.

"Talk to me." I tell him.

Elliot opens a drawer and pulls out a manila folder, which he hands to me.

I open the folder, and look at the paper work that was inside of it. I looked at the paper work, at first a little confused, but then I put the pieces of the puzzle together.

 _Ethan fucking Kavanagh is suing my brother for unethical business conduct?_

"What a fucker." I mumble.

"Yah, tell me about it." Elliot says. "I haven't been myself since I saw it."

 _Well that makes sense then._

"Did you show this to Dad?" I ask him, giving him the paper work back.

"I haven't yet, since I only got this today." He tells me.

"Well you have to show it to him, when you get a chance. Dad can help." I tell him.

Carrick Grey was one of the best lawyers in the state. And even if he couldn't help for whatever reason, he will recommend someone who will.

"I will when I have a chance." Elliot says. "I really don't know what he's talking about. I mean, I fired him because he failed to do what was required of him. He almost cost me a client. A very important client for that matter. Im lucky that he didn't spread the news all over town or else we wouldn't be doing so much work, like we are now."

"He probably thinks the reason why you fired him was because of what happened with Mia." I tell him. "And he also thinks that the reason that you aren't giving him the job is because of that too."

"He knows exactly why he got fired. It had nothing to do with Mia. Besides, what happened with Mia, happened after he got fired. In fact, that was the reason why he did that to her." Elliot says.

That same day that Ethan was fired from his job, he went to a bar, got really drunk, started flirting with some random chick there, somehow he got to her place where they fucked, and then the next morning he was face with an unpleasant surprise of me, Ana, Mia, and Luke.

Nothing unethical had occurred. He was fired because he did not follow instructions, which cost Elliot a very important client. Steve Ignacio is a top dog in the real estate development industry. Elliot was very lucky that I managed to convince Steve to give Elliot's construction company another shot or else Steve would have told everyone he knows that Elliot's company is irresponsible and unprofessional.

"The only reason he is doing this is because he needs a job. He will be suing in order to get the job that he had when he worked for you." I tell him. "I know for certain that he won't win the case because everything was done the way it should be. Business was done on purely ethical standards. He has no proof that it was done otherwise."

"He doesn't." Elliot says. "That's why I think all of this is stupid and a complete waste of time."

And he was right, it was a waste of time. There was no need of a lawsuit. Ethan just needed to find a job elsewhere. If he couldn't find a job here in Washington state, he could move elsewhere. _That's what normal people do when they are seeking a job._

"Just let Dad know as soon as possible. The sooner the better." I advise Elliot.

"I will." He tells me. "Thanks for hearing me out. I appreciate it, bro."

"Not a problem. If you need my help, I will be more than happy to help you." I tell him.

"Im not sure about it now, but if anything I will let you know." Elliot says.

I leave his work soon after.

 _I honestly hope that everything works out. Elliot will definitely win the case; there is no doubt in my mind about that. I just don't understand why Ethan will go so far as to have a lawsuit when one is not necessary at all._

 **Ana's POV**

"So how was the baby?" asks my assistant Jose.

"He was beautiful." I answer. "Its too early to say, but he definitely looks like a blend of both Kate and Elliot.

"Well that does make him a beautiful baby." Jose says. "Thats what happens when a power couple makes a baby."

I giggle.

"So when are you and Christian planning to have a beautiful baby?" Jose asks.

"Well we would like to have a family, but we would like to just enjoy married life first." I tell Jose. "But yes, children are always a topic of conversation."

I wasn't going to tell Jose that Christian and I have been "practicing" for one every day. _That would be a little too personal to tell an assistant._ And I also wasn't going to tell him that we are hoping to have the home construction under way before we start having children. Nobody knows about the home just yet. Elliot knows about the house because his crew will be building it. Everyone else will find out once the construction process happens.

"Im surprised you don't have a bun in the oven already, Mrs. Grey. With that hunk of a husband you have, you should already have little ones running around the place." Jose tells me. "But I do understand what you just said. You need to enjoy each other for a while before having children."

"Yeah, that's the way we are looking at it." I tell him. "Well anyway, while I was gone, was there anything for me?"

"No, nothing new." Jose says.

"Well good." I tell him.

"Would you like anything, Mrs. Grey?" He asks me. "Tea, coffee, blueberry muffin?"

"No thank you, Jose." I tell my assistant. "I will just grab lunch later."

"Alrighty," Jose says. "Just let me know if you need anything."

"Will do." I smile.

Jose leaves my office.

Im left to my solitude until Sawyer walks into my room.

"She always wanted to meet you." He says. "She actually said that on our very first date, when I brought you up."

 _I wonder who he is talking to._

"We were thinking this weekend." He says. "Yeah, listen. I hate cutting the conversation short, but I have to get back to work. Love you, bye."

"Who was that?" I ask him.

"That was my mom." He says. "Mia and I are going to drive up to her place this weekend. Mia wants to meet her."

"That's a big deal." I tell him.

"Indeed it is." He says. "My mom is everything to me. She raised me into the man that I am today. I hope that she ends up loving Mia just as much as I do."

"I have yet to meet one person who doesn't like Mia." I tell him. "Your mother will simply adore her."

"I know she will." He says.

"So did you two move in already?" I ask him.

"A few days ago actually." Sawyer tells me. "I must say though its really nice to come home to see that beautiful smile."

 _Awwww_

"Well Im happy for the both of you." I say.

Sawyer smiles. "If all goes well, which I know it will, that means that I can move on to the next step."

 _As in what I think it is?_

" You mean…" I was about to tell him.

"Yes, I want to ask Mia to marry me." Sawyer says. " Its an idea of mine that's been on my mind ever since she's moved in with me. And I know that it may seem like things are going a little too fast, but we are both in love and I have no one better to call my wife than Mia."

 _Awww that's so sweet._

What Sawyer said almost made me choke up a bit.

"I don't think you are moving quick, although it might seem like it. You two are in love and you are perfect for one another. If you feel that it's time for this, then act on it. " I tell Sawyer.

"And that's what I will do." Sawyer says. " I already have plans for what I would like the proposal to be, but Im putting it on the backburner for now."

"Alrighty, but if you ever do need help, don't hesitate to ask." I say. "We would be delighted to help."

"Thank you." Sawyer says. "I will keep that in mind."

* * *

"Spinach lasagna is for dinner tonight, Mrs. Grey." Gail tells me.

"Gail, you know you can call me Ana." I tell her.

"Sorry, force of habit." She says. "Would you like anything else?"

"No thank you, Gail. Spinach lasagna sounds lovely." I tell her.

"I hope you two enjoy it." She tells me with a smile.

"I have no doubt in my mind that we will." I tell her. "You can have the rest of the evening off."

"Have a good night." She says, and leaves the kitchen.

Soon, Christian walks into the penthouse. Something is up.

"Well Im glad that he told you about it." Christian says. "I told him to do so as soon as he can."

He walks over to me and gives me a peck on the lips before heading to his study.

He spends a good 20 minutes there, before I get impatient.

"Come in." I hear, after I knock gently on Christian's study door.

I walk in to see Christian looking disheveled. He has unbuttoned the first three buttons on his shirt and rolled up his sleeves.

I walk over and give him a hug from behind. He kisses my hand and takes both of them into is hands.

"Babe, what's wrong?" I ask.

He doesn't answer me at first.

"Elliot is being sued." He says.

 _Wait..what?_

"Why?" I ask. "By who?"

"Ethan fucking Kavanagh is suing my brother in an attempt to get his job back." Christian tells me. "He is suing Elliot on the grounds of unethical business conduct."

 _Oh wow. That's surprising that he would actually go that far as to sue Elliot, but Im not surprised that he is doing this._

"But Elliot didn't do anything unethical." I say. "So we don't really have much to worry about."

"Well that's what I thought, but after speaking to my dad, there is a way that he can get away with it, if he continues to argue that the only reason that he got fired was because of what happened with him and Mia." Christian says.

"But that's not reasonable. He was fired because he didn't do his job. It had nothing to do with what happened between him and Mia." I say. "Didn't that happen after he got fired?"

"It did, but it can be argued that the only reason why Elliot isn't willing to give him an interview now is because of that." Christian says.

"Well we are just going to have to think positive." I tell Christian. "Besides, if Carrick Grey is his attorney, then everything should be fine."

"That's what Im thinking, but its just frustrating, Ana. This is pointless. Elliot doesn't need to go through this, especially now that he has a newborn son. It's a waste of precious time that he can spend with his family." Christian says.

"I know. Its really unfair and a complete waste of time. "I say. "But Im sure that it will be a fruitless effort on Ethan's part."

"I think so too." Christian says. And then his stomach growls.

"You're stomach agrees with you too."I say, and giggle. "Come on, lets go eat. It could take your mind off things."

"It could." Christian says. He wraps his arm around me and we walk over to the kitchen to eat dinner.

 **Sorry for the kinda short chapter. I would hope that the next one is a lot longer than this one.**

 **Please Review!**


	31. Chapter 31

**I think its time for a Mia and Luke POV**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Mia's POV**

Alas, it's the weekend. This weekend is supposed to be quite eventful for me and Luke.

At the beginning of the week, Luke and I have decided that it's time for me to meet his mom. After a quick ring to his mom, Luke said that she will be delighted to have us over for the weekend.

I'm actually very excited, but also nervous for this. I'm excited because I really like to meet new people. Meeting Luke's mom, of course, is a big deal for me, and thus I am nervous about it. _What if she doesn't like me? What if she believes what the tabloids say about me?_

"Darlin, why that face?" I hear Luke say. I am now out of my thoughts, and I turn my head to see my love, Luke standing at the doorway of the bathroom. He is running his hand through his hair, wearing nothing, but another black towel around his lower half.

"What are you talking about?" I ask. I sit up in bed, still in my pjs.

"You looked like you were thinking about something. In fact, you seemed as though you were in very deep thought."

"Oh nothing." I say. And Luke did not buy that at all.

"Mia, what is it?" Luke asks, in a concerned manner.

"Im just thinking about our plans for the weekend." I say to him. "And meeting your mom for the first time." I say that with a sigh.

Luke walks over and sits on the edge of the bed.

"You have nothing to worry about. My mom is a very sweet woman and I know for certain that she will like you." Luke says. "Besides, what isn't there to like? Smart, funny, and beautiful? That's perfection, if you were to ask me."

I giggled and blushed at his response. Luke always knew what to say to make me laugh.

"Quite the charmer there, Luke." I say. He kisses my forehead. "The reason why I am slightly nervous is because I am meeting your mother for the first time. The mother of my love. It is quite a special moment for me. I just hope everything goes well."

"It will go well, I promise." He says. He gives me another forehead kiss. "Now get out of bed so we can get this day started."

I don't budge. Luke narrows his eyes and I giggle once again. "What?!" I ask in a playful tone.

Within seconds and without warning, Luke scoops me out of bed, bridal style, and puts me down in the bathroom, and then playfully swats my butt.

I stand up my toes and give him a kiss on the lips before closing the door behind me.

I look in the mirror and see that smile on my face. The one that is always around when Im with Luke. To be honest, I have never been happier. My relationship with Luke has been amazing. We do have our little arguments, as any couple does, but other than that, our relationship is seemingly perfect. And the fact that Christian and Elliot approve, gives me a huge sigh of relief.

 _A very huge sigh of relief for that matter!_

After Im done in the bathroom, I whip up some buttermilk pancakes with a side of bacon and sausage, which is gone in a matter of seconds. _Luke loves breakfast._ Once the dishes are washed and put away, we get dressed and get on the road, to Luke's momma's house.

* * *

We have been driving for a few hours. And now we are in the countryside. Its so beautiful out here. Its definitely more peaceful here than it is back in the city.

Soon we pull up to a nice looking home. Its painted in a pretty light blue with a red door. White gardenias are near the door.

Luke parks the car in the driveway. I take the red daises from the back seat. We stopped by a flower shop on the way here. Red daises are her favorite flower, according to Luke.

We get out of the car and walk to the door, hand in hand.

"Don't worry, Mia." Luke tells me, reassuringly. "She will love you, I promise."

I smile.

 _Yes, Mia. You have nothing to worry about. You love meeting new people. She's just like any other person except she happens to be your boyfriend's mother who's opinion actually matters. And if she doesn't like you, there goes your chance of marriage or whatever._

I quickly snap out of my thoughts once the door opens. There stands a woman who reminds me of my own mother. She has Luke's hair and pretty blue eyes. She smiles when she sees her son.

"Lukey, its been so long." She says giving her son a bear hug and a kiss.

"Yes momma, it has been." Luke says.

Unfortunately, Luke doesn't see his mother as often as he would like, with work and everything that he has in the city. I can tell that he misses her dearly sometimes; and that is what actually lead me to bringing up visiting her, quite recently.

"Momma, I would like you to meet a woman who is very dear to my heart." Luke says, "This is my girlfriend Mia."

Her eyes land on me and she gives me a polite, yet warm smile. And then she envelopes me in a hug.

"Oh my! It's so good to finally meet you." She exclaims. "Luke has told me so much about you."

I smile. "And Luke has told me so much about you too, Mrs. Sawyer." I tell her. "Im so glad I finally get to meet you."

"Oh sweetie, please call me Ellen." She says. "Come on in."

We step into the home, which although is small, is actually quite nice inside.

I hand her the flowers which makes her even happier than she already is.

"Im gonna go put these flowers into a vase. "She says. "Make yourselves at home."

She disappears into the kitchen.

Luke and I sit on the sofa. He puts his arm around me and gives me a chaste kiss on the lips.

"See? I told you that she will love you." He says. I rest my head on his shoulder.

 _Yah, I guess I was worried for no reason._

* * *

We spent the next few hours getting settled in. Luke gave me a tour of the house. The first stop was his childhood bedroom.

According to him everything is like he remembers it being, the last time he was in the room. There were trophies that he earned from the little league up to high school when he played varsity baseball.

"They put me in varsity as a freshman because I was really good at baseball. It was such a big deal because I was the only freshman, surrounded by upperclassman. It was quite an interesting experience." Luke says, looking at the trophies. "I was offered a scholarship to play for any college I wanted as long as I played baseball during my time there, but I didn't accept it. I chose to sign up for the military."

"Do you ever think about how your life would have been if you decided to take the scholarship?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I do on occasion, but I think that the decision I made was the best one." He says looking directly into my eyes. " I don't have any regrets."

I gesture to the bed. " Have any girls been in this room other than me?" I ask raising an eyebrow and smirking.

Luke says. "Yes, there was one. But I walked in on her fucking some guy weeks later."

His answer reminded me of what happened with me and Ethan, except I found out much later that he was a lying, cheating bastard.

"Its in the past." He says and takes my hands into his. "Im happy with what I have now. In fact, I am over the moon with what I have now."

He leans in and kisses me. "I love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

For dinner, Ellen went all out. She prepared oven roasted chicken, with mashed potatoes and sautéed asparagus in wine sauce.

Over the course of dinner, she asked us questions.

"You are a beautiful woman, Mia. And not to mention a very rich woman too." She asks. "So why did you choose Luke when you can have any other man who is just as rich as you?"

"Well, I do come from money, but when it comes to love, money goes obsolete." I answer. " I fell in love with Luke because he's a great guy. He's a gentleman who always strives to keep me happy. He always put a smile on my face. He's just perfect in my eyes. And I wouldn't want anyone else, but him."

"So how did you two meet?" Ellen asks us.

"Well, I started working for Mia's brother and he wanted me to meet everyone in the family. That was how I was introduced to Mia. I thought Mia was an attractive woman at the time, but I couldn't do anything else because she was in a relationship then. It was only until the guy she was in had cheated on her, that I actually realized that I could have a shot with her. Turns out she had feelings for me too, and we went on a date, and realized that something can grow out of this and it has." Luke says. "I can say with great happiness that Im head over heels in love with Mia Grey.

Ellen dabbed her eyes with a napkin.

"Those words bring such joy to me, son." She says. " I am happy that you finally have a wonderful woman in your life. " She turns to me. " I'm sorry that you had to go through infidelity; its horrible, but in the end, you met the man of your dreams, so it worked out for you."

 _Yes, everything worked out for me. And I am very blessed with all of it._

 **Luke's POV**

I helped my mom with the dishes, after dinner was over. It was like old times, I hand washed the dishes and she wiped them dry.

"She is quite a special girl." Mom says, as I hand her a plate.

"Very special, mom." I say.

"All of this reminds me of your father and I." She says. "We were both so elated with one another." She says with a sigh.

My father and I did not have the best of relationships. He was gone most of the time because he was in the military. I vowed not to do that ever, but when I ended up in his shoes, I realized that it was tough to always be there for your family when you are in the military.

When I was done with the military, my father's health deuterated. I remember my mother being by his side the whole time, holding his hand, bringing him food, etc. She did that up to the day he passed away.

Now that was love and even when I look into my mother's eyes now when she talks about my father, I can still see that same love in her eye. And that is what I want.

"Mom, I always wanted what you and Dad had." I say to her.

"It looked like it was a piece of cake, but it wasn't easy." She says. "Especially when he was off on deployment so many times. I had to endure loneliness and lots of worry, but I loved him. That's what got me through it. There will be tough times, but as long as you two love each other, you will get through them."

She takes another plate out of my hands and wipes it dry.

"Gosh, I sound like you two are engaged and off to be married." She says, chuckling.

"Actually mom, I have been meaning to ask: do you happen to have grandma's engagement ring by any chance?"

"Yes, I have it in my jewelry box, although I don't wear it, every now and then I look at it." She says. And then it hits her.

"Oh my God. Are you thinking what I think you are thinking?" She asks, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Yes, mom." I tell her.

"When?" She asks.

"Well, I've had it on my mind for a long time and now that we have moved in together, it has been in my head constantly. I want to ask her to marry me." I tell her. " Im not sure when. I brought her here so she can finally meet you. And of course I wanted you to meet her and tell me what you think before I do anything."

"Luke, she is a wonderful girl. I have no complaints about her whatsoever. I certainly love her. So if you end up asking her to marry you tomorrow, I would have nothing against it." She tells me.

"I haven't asked for her father's blessing yet so I can't do it tomorrow. But before that I will have to ask the blessing from both of her brothers because they are very overprotective of their sister." I tell my mom.

My mom gave me a puzzled look.

"Since Mia is their only sister they are very much overprotective of her." I explain to her.

"Oh okay, that makes a lot more sense then." She says. "Usually siblings don't really care that much. But that's really nice that they care about her. And it makes you not want to mess up or else you will get your ass kicked."

 _And I will get fired also…._

"The Greys are wonderful people." I say. "They are involved in charity work, and are always looking into ways to give back to the community and to people in need."

"That's amazing." Mom says. "I would love to meet them one day."

 _I do too Mom._

* * *

That night, I couldn't sleep. My mom's words echoed in my head.

" _Luke, she is a wonderful girl. I have no complaints about her whatsoever. I certainly love her. So if you end up asking her to marry you tomorrow, I would have nothing against it."_

Why exactly was putting this off? I am madly in love with Mia and I know she feels the same.

If I propose to her, that doesn't mean we will have to get married right away. People are engaged for a long time before they end up getting married.

 _Not that I want that or anything…_

I looked at the clock next to the bed and debated if I should make the call. _It's almost ten o'clock. Mr. Grey is probably busy with Ana. Wouldn't want to disturb that._

So I tried going back to sleep. But all I did was toss and turn.

"Baby, are you alright?" Mia asks, her voice groggy, her eyes barely open. _But she still manages to look beautiful…. how do you do that, babe?_

"I can't sleep." I tell her, in a whisper

"I can tell." Mia says giggling, in a whisper. "You have woken me up with your tossing and turning."

"Sorry." I say.

She moves to my side of the bed and puts her head on my chest and stretches out her left arm across my chest. I put my arms around her, and kiss her head, inhaling the smell of her signature shampoo, _mmm jasmine._

And by some sort of magic, I was out like a light in a matter of seconds.

 **Luke's POV (The Next Day)**

I woke up the next day determined and refreshed.

Mia had volunteered to help my mom out in her garden that she has in the backyard, which gave me time to execute what I wanted to.

First off was calling Mia's father.

Christian had given me his number a while ago, so that I can have it in case of an emergency or _in my case, for a moment like this._

Luckily, he answered the phone.

"Hello Mr. Grey." I say. "Its Luke Sawyer calling."

"Well hello Luke." Carrick Grey says. "Its nice to hear from you. How are you and Mia doing at your mom's house?"

"We are having a great time. Mia is actually helping my mom in her garden." I say. "Listen, Mr. Grey, I have something I would like to ask."

"Sure, ask away." He says.

 _And here it goes…_

"I would like to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage." I say.

There was a brief pause.

"Luke, I will give you my daughter's hand in marriage, but only on one condition." He says. "Mia is my only daughter and as her father I treasure her. Don't get me wrong, I treasure all of my children, but Mia has always been a daddy's girl. And I hate to see it when she is upset. I know you won't ever do this, seeing that you do such a great job of putting a smile on her face, but just so you know, if you do ever hurt my baby girl, you will pay for it. Consider it as a warning."

"Understood, sir." I tell him.

"Very well." He says. "When do you plan on proposing to her?"

"I gave it some thought last night. My original plan was to wait a month and then propose but after I had talked to my mom yesterday, I think it would be fitting if I would propose to her here." I say.

" Well if you believe that the time is right now, then you should go ahead and do it." Carrick says. "I know that Mia will wait as long as it takes for you to ask her to marry you, but if its soon then let it be soon."

"Thank you, Mr. Grey. I appreciate your blessing. I promise to love and cherish your daughter until my last breath." I say.

"It would be great to have you as part of the family, Luke." He says. "Although I feel as though you were part of the family from the moment you started working for Christian."

It feels great to hear that from him. I end the call soon after.

 _And now for Mr. Grey…._

I take a deep breath and call him.

He picks up the phone in a matter of minutes.

"Grey." He says.

"Hello Mr. Grey, its Sawyer." I say.

"Hello Sawyer." He says. "How is everything?"

"Everything is good, sir." I tell him. " I do have something I would like to ask."

"Yes, what is it?" He asks.

"As you know, Mia and I have been dating for a while now. Everything has been perfect. Im head over heels in love with her and she feels the exact same way about me. After a conversation with my mother yesterday, I have come to a conclusion. But I need your blessing first…." I say, and then he cuts me off.

"So you want to propose to my sister and you want my blessing?" He clarifies.

"Yes, sir that is correct." I say.

There is a slight pause.

"Sawyer, of course, you get my blessing." He says. " But I think the best person to call here would be my father."

"I already have, but seeing how you and your brother are very overprotective of your sister, I saw it fitting to call you." I say in response.

Christian chuckles. "I do appreciate the thought, Sawyer." He says. "I have never seen my sister so happy. You two are a perfect match."

"Thank you, sir." I say.

"Do you need any help in regards to the ring?" He asks. "I can call up Cartier and have one sent over?"

"That won't be necessary, sir." I say. "I will be giving her my grandmother's ring."

"Oh alright." He says. "Well let me know if you need anything."

"Will do, sir." I tell him. "Thank you."

"You are very welcome, Sawyer." He says. " I will be honored to call you my brother in law."

"As will I." I say.

We end the call in a matter of seconds.

My mom had placed the box with grandma's ring on my desk.

After making the calls, I let her know that I have decided to propose to Mia. Mom started to cry tears of joy.

"I knew you weren't going to wait." She says, wiping the tears of her face.

Then Mia walks into the room.

"Why are you crying, Ellen?" She asks, resting her hand on my mom's shoulder.

Ellen looks up. "I had something in my eye, but it's gone now." _Well look at you, Mom, making up a white lie on your feet._

"I picked the tomatoes and put them into the basket that you gave me." Mia told my mom. "Do you want me to help you wash them?"

"No, I can take it from there." My mom says. "I really appreciate your help, Mia, but you are here to have a relaxing weekend with Luke, and not help me with my garden."

Mia smiles. " Well I like to help out, especially when it comes to food."

"Of course." Ellen says. "Now go on you two, do something fun."

Mom leaves the room. I slip the box containing the ring into my pocket.

"Why don't we take a walk?" I ask Mia. "Its nice out."

"Indeed it is." Mia says. "Perfect for a walk."

* * *

We leave the house shortly after.

" I think having a garden is great." Mia says. "It's a lot healthier that way."

She talks about the garden that my mom has, while I listen as that's the only thing that I can really do at the moment. Im a bundle of nerves as we continue to walk. We are walking up a trail, heading to the most picturesque part of the area in which my mom lives.

Thoughts are rushing in and out of my head. _What if she says no? What if she thinks its too soon? I mean, don't you remember when you asked her to move in with you, she wasn't okay with that idea..she thought it was too soon._

"Luke, do you think your mom likes me?" Mia asks. This breaks me out of my thoughts.

"Of course, she does." I answer her. "Why wouldn't she?"

"Well, I don't know. It seems like she does, but that could also be because she is such a gracious host." Mia says to me.

"If my mom didn't like you, it would have been evident." I tell her.

We are already getting closer to that perfect spot where I will propose to Mia.

"Besides, when I was helping her with the dishes the other night, she told me that she thinks you are a very special girl and that you are smart and beautiful." I tell Mia.

"Really?" Mia asks. "She said all that?"

"Yes, Mia." I tell her. "She adores you."

Mia smiles. We link hands as we continue walking up.

Mia gasps when she sees the view. We are on a steep hill overlooking the countryside. In the distance, cows roam the fields and there is only the sound of birds chirping.

It was the perfect place to perform a proposal.

"It's so beautiful up here." Mia says.

"It sure is." I say. "But it can't compare to you."

Mia laughs and blushes. "Oh Luke, such a charmer."

"No, really, I mean it." I say. " Im such a lucky man that sometimes I wake up wondering if all of this is a dream."

"Well if it is a dream, I don't want to wake up from it." Mia says.

"I don't either." I say. "In fact, I want to live in it for an eternity."

Mia looks into my eyes. "An eternity?" She asks.

"Yes, my love." I say. "Mia, from day one I thought you were the most beautiful woman, I have ever laid eyes on. I watched with envy as you dated Ethan, hoping that the idiot treats you the way you should be treated. When I saw what he did, I wanted to tear him up with my own hands. But at the same time, I saw it as an opportunity to be with you. And it was the best decision I have ever made in my life."

Mia is looking at me, tears are streaming down her face.

"Mia Lauren Grey, I am madly in love with you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." I get down on one knee. "So would you make me the happiest man in the world, and marry me?"

Mia is in shock. And then she squeals. "Oh my God!"

"So what do you say?" I ask, with a smile.

"Yes." She says. "I will marry you."

And on that note, I take the ring that once belonged to my grandmother. The one that my grandfather had given her, when he proposed to her.

It had a gold band with small diamonds inside, and in the center a relatively big diamond inside. It wasn't the nicest ring ever, and it did not compare to the one that Ana had, but it was sentimental. And it fit perfectly on Mia's slender ring finger.

Once the ring was one her finger, Mia looked into my eyes and kissed me.

At that very moment, I did feel like the happiest man in the world. I had everything in my life that one would want, a good job, a mother that I love, a very nice apartment, and a beautiful fiancée.

 _What else does a guy need in life?_


End file.
